



A 



O H 












10 











^ 






o \- • 



v\^ 



V-^. 




<x> 'j . 

■r 



.'iy 



<. 




^. 






.0' 




'bK 



'^0^ 



Vol*"' c\ ^0 ^L,'-°'* '> V '';,'c^' ^ 



> 












o. ♦,, 



[The original is in possession ot the author. J 



'7~z:>-f^-%^ 



The Lyon Campaign 



IN MISSOURI 



BEING A HISTORY OF 



THE FIRST IOWA INFANTIiY 



And of the causes which led up to its 

organization, and liow it earned 

tlie tlianlcs ol Congress, 

which it got. 

TOGETHER 

With a birdseye view of the conditions 

in Iowa preceding tlie great 

Civil War of 1861. 



BY 

E. F. WARE, 

M 
A private soldier in Company "E' 
of said, regiment. 



yVa>' is the scJiooIiiig of the nations. 



MONOTYPED AND PRINTED P,Y 

CRANE & COMPANY, 

TOPEKA, KANSAS, 
1907. 



Gilt 
AuU»or 
(ferum) 



PEEFAOE. 

In the First Iowa Infantry the writer of this 
book was a private soldier. He desires to give a 
history of the Regiment, and feels that he cannot do 
so in a proper way without drawing a brief picture 
of the conditions that preceded the great conflict, 
so that the reader may understand what was done 
and why it was done. The story of the great war 
is not understandable unless one knows the condi- 
tions of society at the time, the feelings of the people, 
and the facts which preceded the first enlistments. 

The story of the First Iowa Infantry is typical. 
It was the first body of troops which the State sent 
out. The Regiment came up to expectation ; it 
brought glory to the State ; it set the pace to all 
other regiments that came after it, and became a 
matter of State pride. It was a three-months reg- 
iment, which served and fought battles after the 
term of enlistment had expired. Almost all of the 
survivors afterwards enlisted in other regiments. 
Most became officers and fought through the war or 
were killed. When the great Civil War had closed, 

not many were left of the First Iowa Infantry, 

(iii) 



iv PREFACE. 



and at the regimental reunions which came after- 
wards but few were in attendance, and such as did 
attend were mostly those who had become officers 
of other Iowa regiments subsequently organized. 

The writer of this book served entirely through the 
war in Iowa regiments, and he cannot write the 
story of the First Iowa Infantry without going 
somewhat into details, because he wishes to write a 
true history; and history without details is neither 
comprehensible nor philosophic. 



/ 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Chap. 1. Early Iowa. — The Mississippi River. — Saint Louis. — Rivers 
and river towns. — Politics and population. — The Mexi- 
can War. — Abolitionists. — Slavery discussion. — The Ger- 
mans. — The Irish. — Whisky. — Tobacco. — Money and 
exchange 1 

Chap. 2. Pistols and game. — Schools. — Indians. — Free negroes. — 
Rifles and target-shooting. — Shooting for beef and tur- 
keys. — Fishing and ferryboats. — The river, pilots. — The 
stage-drivers. — The professional gamblers. — Boots and 
shoes. — Counterfeiters. — Gambling. — Stage-driving 12 

Chap. 3. The churches. — Lecturers. — Horse-thieves. — Robbers. — • 
Banditti of the prairies. — Steamboat robberies. — Pistols 
and guns. — Indian ponies. — Home-made clothes. — Boots. 
Hogs and bacon. — Fiddlers. — Pittsburg coal and lumber. 
• — Lamps and oil. — Fire engines and fights. — Panic of 
1857. — Shinplasters. — Fractional currency 22 

Chap. 4. The harness-maker. — The workman. — The discussions. — 
The "mudsill." — Schools and education. — Uncle Tom's 
Cabin. — Aunt Phyllis's Cabin. — Attitude of church. — 
Church support of slavery. — Campaign of 1856. — The 
Wide-Awakes. — Douglas and Lincoln. — Lincoln's speech. 
— Douglas's speeches. — Douglas's theories. — Popular sov- 
ereignty 31 

Chap. 5. Fremont's defeat. — Troubles in Kansas. — Zouave company 
organized. — Abolitionists. — Emancipation. — Negro-steal- 
ing. — Boycott. — Attitude of church. — ^Underground rail- 
road. — United States marshals. — Attitude of lawyers. — 
Discussion of Constitution. — School oratory. — A Lincoln 
story 44 

Chap. 6. The Dred Scott Decision. — The John Brown episode. — 

Negro minstrelsy 56 

Chap. 7. Iowa sovereignty. — Zouave uniform. — Constant drilling. — • 
Swimming. — Campaign of 1860. — The Little Giants. — ■ 
Parades and fights. — Wide-Awakes. — Lamp-posts. — • 
(V) 



vi TABLE OF CONTEXTS. 

PAGE 

"Death to traitors." — The armory. — The "jour" cigar- 
maker. — Fort Sumter. — Zouaves organized. — Tender of 
services. — The bilhard saloon. — On the roster. — Grand- 
father. — Attitude of parents. — Advice of mother. — The 
patriotic sermon. — The German company. — The Irish 
company. — Acceptance of company. — Beginning of Com- 
pany "E" 63 

Chap. 8. State acceptance. — April 20th. — "Music of the Union." — 
The girls. — -The uniform. — The embarkation. — The ren- 
dezvous. — Keokuk. — The vacant hotel. — The saloon. — 
Our muskets. — Regimental camp. — Practice. — ^The re- 
coil. — The silver dimes. — Secession sentiment. — Chick- 
ens. — Corporal Bill. — Balls.^ — Cotillions. — Dances 78 

Chap. 9. Keokuk. — Constant drill. — The officers. — The cooks. — Sick 
men. — Poisoned pies. — Hospital. — ^Spies. — Missouri dis- 
turbances. — Steamboat and flag. — Floyd's nephew. — 
Election of Colonel. — Lieutenant-Colonel. — Major. — Reg- 
imental officers. — Laundry. — Muster-in. — May 14, 1861. 
— Personal dissatisfaction. — Old Mace. — "Chicken Mess 
No. 1." 92 

Chap. 10. June comes. — Rain. — Tobacco. — Poker. — Zouave drill. — 
Douglas's funeral. — Great Bethel. — Striking camp. — 
Our dog. — June 13th. — ^Trip to Hannibal. — Breakfast. — - 
June 14th. — Macon. — Oratory. — O'Connor. — Guard 
House. — Cognac. — Blackberry brandy. — French Jo 101 

Chap. 11. Union flag. — Macon. — Serenades. — Huestis and Grimes. — 
" Link." — The flag-pole. — Bridge guards. — General Price. 
— June 18th. — Railroad-breaking. — 500 cavalry. — " Go it, 
Aunty." — Renick. — Newspaper. — Yancey House. — Boon- 
ville battle. — Little Bawly. — June 20th. — Fayette. — The 
Missouri river 115 

Chap. 12. June 21st. — Boots. — Lyon and Blair. — Our steamboat. — 
Colonel Bates rebuked. — Fishing. — June 22d. — Captain 
won't resign. — Corporals reduced. — June 23d. — Steam- 
boats on the Mississippi. — Fletch Brandebury. — Bal- 
lads. — June 24th. — Camping on fair-grounds. — The can- 
non. — Breaking horses and mules. — Midnight bray. — 
Warned to be ready. — June 25th. — Wagons and wagon- 
mules. — The jerk-line. — Accidents. — The colonel. — June 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Vll 



26th. — Ammunition. — Minie bullet. — The cartridge. — 
Cartridge-box. — Pay for State service. — Clothing. — ■ 
Stopping the bray. — Grimes and the mule 127 

13. June 27th. — Inspection of arms. — Brogans and socks. — ■ 

Mess assignments. — Revolvers. — Skirmish drill. — Boon- 
ville petition. — June 28th. — Disloyal officers. — Captain 
under ban. — Company not fooled. — Rain. — Tents not 
good. — June 29th. — Inspection of ammunition. — Fatigue 
duty. — Boonville exhibition drills. — Captain and the 
hog. — Indignation meetings. — What the field officers 
said. — The Captain goes. — Lieutenant takes command. — 
June 30th. — Regimental muster. — The ration. — Wagon- 
train deficient. — The Yellowstone steamboat. — The pio- 
neer and trapper. — The soldier of 1812 ; 139 

14. July 1, 1861. — Claib Jackson and Stump Price. — Boasting. 

■ — Bucked and gagged. — Regular officers. — Trouble. — ■ 
Want to fight regulars. — " Ous mid your guns." — Punish- 
ment. — Deserting. — Comet. — July 2d. — Camp Jackson 
material. — The 32-pounder. — Jim Lane. — List of troops. 
— Osterhaus. — Totten. — Clothmg. — Order of companies. 
— No favors. — Insufficient train. — Ready to start 150 

15. July 3d. — The start.— The ovation.— The boys. — The how- 

itzer. — The regulars. — The "Happy Land of Canaan." 
— Weight of baggage. — The march. — Some "nourish- 
ment." — July 4th. — -Early march. — Fatigue duty. — ^The 
Missouri mule. — Number of slaves. — The camp. — Mul- 
berries. — Supper. — Sturgis. — July 5th. — Rain. — Bad 
roads. — Tents dumped. — ^ Rations shortened. — "Lize". . 159 

16. July 6th. — Out-march regulars. — 23-mile march. — Lyon 

disliked. — No cavalry. — Beef supply short. — July 7th. — • 
Old Mace. — Distilleries. — White mule. — Vegetables. — ■ 
Rebel depot. — Sun hot. — Regulars shed knapsacks.— 
Reached Grand river. — Rebel supply depot. — Garden.— 
Sturgis's command. — Pontoon train. — Ferry-rope. — Cor- 
duroying road. — ^The crossing. — The fire-guard. — Last 
of the wamus 168 

17. July 8th. — Grand river. — Osage river. — Wagons lightened 

up. — Missouri storekeeper. — Graybacks. — Seven kinds of 
insects. — Nostalgia. — Sturgis's forces. — Kansas officers. 



TABLE OF COX TEXTS. 



— Jim Lane's speech. — July 9th. — March to Osage. — 
Game. — Log cabins. — Dead soldier. — Sunstrokes.^ — Osage 
river reached. — July 10th. — The crossing. — Deaths and 
accidents. — Fire-guard again. — Suicides. — The "Jigger 
Boss" 179 

Ch.'Vp. 18. July 11th. — -Wild hogs. — De Soto. — Soap in shoes. — Ward- 
robe. — Inventory of pockets. — Dead soldier. — Wagons 
lightened. — All-night march. — Lyon at the fire. — July 
12th.— A long march. — Stockton. — Melville. — Gravelly. 
— Raw bacon. — Ragged soldiers. — Union sentiment. — 
Cabin on prairie. — " Happy Land of Canaan" 190 

Chap. 19. July 13th. — Short food. — Free fights. — Trousers wrecked. — 
Headed for Springfield. — Corn cure. — Chicken-hunting. 
— Hot biscuit. — Dutch ovens. — The pants. — June 14th. — 
Little York. — No supplies. — Camp Mush. — Murder. — 
Execution.- — No chaplain. — Sunday busy day. — Refitting 
trousers. — Union sentiment. — Weaving. — Coloring but- 
ternut. — New trousers. — Belle of the Mohawk Vale. — ■ 
General Sturgis. — July 15th. — Mush and water. — Harness- 
making. — No rations. — No drill. — Regiment neglected. — ■ 
Cooking corn-meal. — Bill Huestis's bugle-call. — Boot- 
heel plug 201 

Chap. 20. July 16th.— Syester and I.— The Old Mill.— A secesh family. 
— Half-soling shoes. — Inflammatory rheumatism. — Lyon 
disliked. — Fault Mith Fremont. — July 17th. — Typhoid. 
— Blackberry root. — Tribute from distillery. — Whisky 
and blackberry. — Recovery. — July 18th. — Very short ra- 
tions. — Growing dissatisfaction. — McMullin's story. — 
Loj^alty among regulars in Texas. — General Banks's or- 
der 213 

Chap. 21. July 19th. — Hard storm. — Diary saved. — Raw dough. — 
Longing for discharge. — Ordered to Springfield. — Coffee 
and corn-meal. — Burritt's Astronomy. — My constella- 
tion. — The stars. — Captain Schofield. — Our chaplain. — 
July 20th.— Sponge-cake.— Springfield. — Rolla.— The 
ridge road. — Letters and newspapers. — Money and pur- 
chases. — Soap. — March to James river. — July 21st. — 
General Sweeny. — New sort of people. — Ozark. — Load 
of whisky. — The distribution. — Right dress 224 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



IX 



Chap. 22. July 22d.— The cards sacrificed.— The forests.— Chert.— 
The Ozark Mountains. — Wheat. — The loom. — The proph- 
ecy. — Double-ciuick three miles. — 29-mile march. — Shell 
into court-house. — Capture of Forsyth. — On guard. — ■ 
Refugees. — Atrocities. — Union sentiment. — Union ter- 
ritory. — Stone county. — July 23d. — The Chaplain. — The 
bandanas. — Jaynes's Carminative Balsam. — Prisoners. — 
Prison-pen. — Parol 235 

Chap. 23. July 24th. — Return to Springfield. — Order of march. — Rebel 
cavalry. — Shoes and moccasins. — Beautiful country. — ■ 
The forests and streams. — Roasting-ears. — Scientific 
corn-cooking. — July 25th. — Return to " Jeems's Fork." — 
Hot weather. — Arrive at Springfield. — Mail and money. 
— Bull Run. — General Scott. — Fuss and feathers. — Fre- 
mont. — Benton. — Fight or discharge. — Soda-water, pie, 
and candy. — Dress-parade. — Lyon's general order. — • 
Brigade organization. — Schofield's published letter. — 
Corpular Mace 244 

Chap. 24. July 26th. — Butter and sausage. — Little York. — Lake 
Spring. — Putrid beef. — The pro'test. — The Lieutenant's 
address. — Economizing on poker. — Polishing gun. — • 
Picket-firing. — July 27th. — Cavalry active. — Spies and 
artillery. — Commissary stores give out. — Schofield's let- 
ter. — Lyon's letter. — John S. Phelps. — The hegira. — ^The 
wagon-train.- — Letter per Phelps. — Needs of the occa- 
sion. — Wheat and mills. — Lyon worried. — July 28th. — 
Mush and coffee. — Whisky. — Mace's story about Col. 
Clay. — Mace grows nervous. — Camp McClellan. — Camp 
Mush No. 2 253 

Chap. 25. July 29th. — Dade county demonstration. — Picket duty. — 
The Huddleston girls. — July 30th. — A sorry breakfast. — 
Company quarrels. — Fresh beef. — Corporal Churubusco 
tells story. — The Mexican War. — Champagne. — Brevets. 
— July 31st. — Blackberry root. — Our Lieutenant. — Beef 
and wheat. — Assembly at 1 a. m; — Night inspection. — 
August 1st. — Coffee, beef and bread. — Guthrie and the 
mule. — "Lize."- — Ordered to march. — Going south. — No 
orders to halt. — Sleeping among the flints. — The "wire 
road" 262 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Chap. 2G. August 2d. — Up early. — Line of battle formed. — The Rebel 
divisions. — McCulIough. — Rains. — Pearce. — Steele. — 
Hunting McCulIough. — Deploying as skirmishers. — The 
rally. — ^The cavalry charge. — The saber drip. — Changing 
positions. — Trying to find the enemy. — Totten. — Went 
into camp. — A picket-post. — August 3d. — Line of battle. 
— "Reaching for land warrant." — Woman and her chil- 
dren. — Forward movement. — The store and camp. — The 
supplies. — The buttermilk. — The charge. — Jarvis Bar- 
ker's Company. — Paddy Miles. — Boot-heel. — The well. — 
Bakc-oven. — Bogus camp-fires 272 

Chap. 27. August 4th. — Loss of the bake-oven. — The return. — Intense 
heat. — Killed and wounded. — Captured. — Dug Springs. 
— McCulla's store. — Disappointment. — Lyon's letter. — 
Rains's report. — Mcintosh's report. — Price's report. — 
The return to Springfield. — Night firing. — August 5th. — • 
The march. — The cracker-barrel. — ^The dust. — Contro- 
versy with Lj^on. — The new market. — Watch trade. — 
"Orphan." — August 6th. — Camp near Phelps. — New 
pants. — ^Term of service. — Lyon cross and petulant. — 
Refugees. — Caravan to Rolla 286 

Chap. 28. August 7th. — Change of camp. — Mrs. Phelps. — Made Cor- 
poral. — On picket. — Capture a spy. — August 8th. — Boil- 
ing clothes. — Chiggers. — Wood-ticks. — Treatment for in- 
sects. — Supply train. — Three armies. — Wilson Creek. — 
Shoes and love-letters. — Plan of retreat. — Lyon's speech. 
— The enemy's camp-fires. — August 9th. — Fight for water. 
— Gift of tobacco. — On eve of battle. — Picket-fighting. — 
Our regimental officers. — The Colonel. — The Lieutenant- 
Colonel.— The Major.— Our Fnst Lieutenant.— Jo Utter . . 298 

Chap. 29. Orders to fall in. — Lyon's speech on August 9th. — Getting 
scared. — Bill Huestis's theory. — Sweeney's speech. — Ly- 
on's style. — Ammunition. — The bread loaf. — A day's ra- 
tions. — Horse-thief hat. — A picture. — The march. — The 
morning. — August 10th. — The battle of Wilson's Creek. — 
The Pelican Rangers 310 

Chap. 30. Author's review of battle. — Our officers. — Official reports. — ■ 
Schofield. — Sturgis. — Totten. — Lyon killed leading First 
Iowa. — The Pelicans. — The reunion story. — Confederate 



I 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi 

PAGE 

quarrels. — Criticism of Sigel. — Poor Confederate general- 
ship. — Captain Mason. — Private Norman. — Discussion of 

Lyon. — The "mudsill." 328 

Chap. 31. Sunset. — Arrived in Springfield. — Everything hurly-burly. 
■ — Train sent to Rolla. — August 11th. — Paddy Miles's boy. 
• — Shoulder painful. — Mace and ''Lize" turn up. — Mace's 
best "holt." — Two roads to Rolla. — Valley road blocked. 
— Marched 32 miles. — August 12th. — Sturgis takes com- 
mand. — Rear guard. — August 20th. — Arrived in St. 
Louis. — Earthworks. — Camped in arsenal. — August 21st. 
— Arsenal. — State uniforms. — German hospitality. — Fre- 
mont's order. — Paid off. — Provost Marshal. — Published 
departure. — Reception at home. — Thanks of Congress. . 341 

Appendix A 355 

Appendix B 357 



THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 



CHAPTER 1. 



Early Iowa. — The Mississippi River. — Saint Louis. — Rivers and River 
Towns. — Politics and Population. — The Mexican War. — Abolitionists. 
— Slavery Discussion. — The Germans. — The Irish. — Whisky. — Tobacco. 
— Money and Exchange. 

An Opening Statement may be i^iardoned here, because it is 
pertinent and illustrates what will follow. My grandfather, 
born in Massachusetts, moved to Maine when it was part of 
Massachusetts ; and my father was born there. My grandfather 
was a merchant cooper, and engaged in making barrels whole- 
sale for the West India trade. My father moved to Connec- 
ticut at an early day. My mother was born in Connecticut, 
and was married in Hartford, where I wa? born. 

While Iowa was a Territory my father and mother movfxl 
there to one of the busy cities on the Mississippi River. I 
was a young lad, but I remember many incidents of the trip. 
I remember traveling on the stage-coaches, the steaml)oats and 
the canal-boats. I well remember how finely upholstered and 
fixed up the canal passenger-boats were, and how the horses 
on the towline were whipped up, and how the dancing on the 
deck prolonged itself late at night, while the fiddler chewed to- 

(1) 



THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 



bacco and looked into the canal. I did not see a railroad until 
several years after. 

The River Towns of Iowa \\'ere kej^t busy by the steamboats. 
Some of the amusements were furnished by floating circuses 
and theaters towed up and down by the steamboats. Barges 
and flatboats borne by the current were continually descending 
the river with extra men who were going on cheap passages to 
St. Louis or New Orleans. Those who had been to New Orleans 
had great stories to tell of adventures going and coming. St. 
Louis was the great metropolis. It did the business for the river 
points above. Merchandise upstream was carried on steam- 
boats. Every wholesale house in St. Louis was also an insurance 
company. To every bill of goods was attached an item for dray- 
age and an item for insurance. Different merchants had dif- 
ferent rates of insurance upon goods which they sold and shipped. 
It was one of the matters of bargain in buying goods. If the 
goods were lost in transit, the merchant duplicated the bill. 
The river towns seemed to be settled up by people from along 
other rivers. The style of up-river architecture was derived 
from St. Louis. There was a strange and quaint style of build- 
ing and roofing, but it had disappeared entirely before 1850. 
The boys who were my playmates would talk about the Sciota 
River, the Muskingum, the Alleghany, the Big Sandy, the Cum- 
berland, and the Tennessee. It seemed as if every boy had 
lived on a river ; they were all loyal to their rivers, and the boj^s 
would fight over the question whether or not the Alleghany was 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 3 

bigger than the Muskingum ; and over the size of the boats that 
could go up either. 

The city where my father settled in Iowa was, in politics, Dem- 
ocratic. Whigs were few and their influence waning. The State 
gave Democratic majorities. My first recollection of political 
discussion was upon the right and wrong of the war with Mexico. 
Our preacher said the Mexican war was wrong, and that it was 
provoked by the South for the purpose of getting additional 
slave territory. Others were strong in their denunciations of 
the attitude of our government against Mexico. When the re- 
turned soldiers talked about Buena Vista and Chapultepec, there 
were those who would say that the United States forces ought 
to have been whipped. 

My father used to say that when he was a sailor on the Pacific 
they once sailed into the bay of San Francisco, and an English 
sailor looking over the bay said : "In this magnificent bay some- 
time there will be more ships than in any harbor in the world." 
So my father rejoiced that the Mexican war had ended with as 
little bloodshed and as great an accumulation of territory as it 
did, especially of San Francisco Bay, but he was very strongly op- 
posed to. slavery. The boys played the ''Battle of Buena Vista," 
and the fights which were constantly taking place among the boys 
had some supposed reference to and representation of the Mex- 
ican war. Fighting was so common and continuous among the 
boys that parents took no notice of it. 

The sugar of that day was a brown sugar that came up in 
steamboats from Louisiana in hogsheads. It was rolled ashore 



THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 



upon the wharf and ^^•as emptied out of the hogsheads there, by 
shovels, into barrels which were weighed and marked and placed 
in warehouses, the hogsheads being too large for convenient 
handling. In (hesc hogsheads were short stalks of sugar-cane 
among the sugar, and the boys who were ahvays playing on the 
wharf, catching fish and swimming, ate the refuse sugar scraped 
fi'oin the sides of these hogsheads and fought each other with 
the stalks of cane. I remember upon one of these occasions get- 
ting into a fight and being called an ''Abolitionist" and being 
pounded u}) pretty well with some stalks of cane. I went to 
my father and asked him what an '^ Abolitionist" was, and was 
duly informed. 

The discussion concerning slave territory and slavery grew 
more and more rabid. I well rememl3er in 1850, when nine 
years of age, a number of very heated discussions on the slavery 
({uestion growing out of "Compromise" legislation in Congress. 
My father had taken and always did take, during the life of 
Horace Greeley, the New York Weekly Tribune, and it was the 
political Bible of our house. This was supplemented l:)y the In- 
dependent, a religious newspaper of the same type. My father 
used to take me aroimd with him, and it seemed to me that he 
was constantly engaged in the discussion of the slavery question, 
and somebody either on one side or the other was talking about 
the United States Constitution. Both sides seemed to think 
tliat the constitution was in \'ery great peril. 

My Old Grandfather had in the meantime moved from Maine 
to Iowa. He had seen military service during his younger days, 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 5 

and he was greatly perturbed at the condition of things. Jle 
used to say that the country could not hold together nuich 
longer. My grandmother, who came West with him, was a great 
reader of the Bible. She never cared to read anj'thing else but 
it and the Weekly New York Independent, and she was constantly 
finding passages in Holy Writ which indicated that there was 
to be a great war and that the country was to be divided and 
never come together again, like the tribes of Israel. The good 
old lady died before the opening of the war. 

I well remember traveling on a passenger canal-1)oat in Illi- 
nois, and how the passengers, siding up on the canal-boat, upon 
the slavery question, had a joint debate. The progress of the 
canal-boat through the water was so silent that a joint de})ate 
was easily carried on, and it was carried on all day, and at night 
my father quarreled with a man for two hours more on the slav- 
ery question. 

Two military companies existed in our town, one composed 
of Germans and the other of Irish. They were both fiercely pug- 
nacious, — the Germans having a little more fight than the other. 
The Germans talked about the Revolution of 1848 in Germany; 
they were mostly militar}- refugees. They had festivals and 
Ijalls and literary exercises, which, as I now remem])er, would 
have done credit to an Eastern city instead of a frontier town. 
There were men among them who were called Colonels and Ma- 
jors, perhaps from the rank which they had occupied in the Ger- 
man insurrection. They were, as a rule, a very high-grade class 
of citizens, although essentially German, and apparently very 



6 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

desirous of retaining their language, usages and customs. The 
Irish, on the otlier hand, were coarser. They did not plant vine- 
yards and have literary exercises. They were boisterous, and 
yet among them were some very notable people. I remember 
one who wore the Victorian cross for bravery in battle in India, 
and he said the cross was pinned on him by the Queen herself, 
which I have no doul)t was the fact. He seemed to be the lead- 
ing spirit among the Irish. So that when there were festive 
occasions and these two military companies paraded, they pa- 
raded separately, and when the thing was over and military 
discipline at an end, there was liable to be a fight, and generally 
a fight that was stubborn. The Germans had their Turner halls 
and Turner exercises, and they were all athletes. They used to 
have gardens where they had speaking and where they drank 
native wine and beer. It was about all that a man's life was 
worth to disturb one of these occasions. I remember one time, 
in an ill-advised moment, that I joined as a boy a party of Irish 
yeomanry who thought it would be a good idea to go down and 
break up the exercises. After having been thrown over a high- 
board fence, I was never guilty again of such an indiscretion. 

Whisky in those days was exceedingly common. It was man- 
ufactured at many places and occupied the same relation to 
other business that the manufacture of cider does now, and the 
then price of whisky coincided with the present price of cider. 
Some large stores kept it free for their customers. I remember 
a large retail store in which they kept a barrel of it with a mov- 
able head and a tin cup hanging from a chain. People went in 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 7 

there and would dip up a cupful and drink it and go on talking 
the same as if it were lemonade. 

New whisky which was clear like w^ater sold for fifteen or twenty- 
cents a gallon. It was found, as near as I can now remember, 
about everywhere. But there had grown up against it consid- 
erable sentiment in favor of restricting its use, and I remember 
temperance meetings, but there were few restrictions possible. 
Everybody could make it ; everybody could get it, and every- 
body could drink it. Beer came in much later, and its use was 
very much limited at first. Beer did not seem to suit public 
taste. In those days the great moral reform crusade was against 
gambling ; — intemperance was secondary. 

Nearly everybody used tobacco. As I now judge, it appears 
to me that nine men out of every ten chewed tobacco. Cigars 
were long and coarsely made. There was no tax; not much 
skill in the manufacture, and good cigars, as taste then ran, 
could be had for a cent apiece. The only man who did not use 
tobacco that I can recollect, was our Congregational preacher. 

The Money of the Country was in private banks. The bank- 
ing business was profitable because there was so much made in 
"exchange." It was very difficult to convey money from West 
of the Mississippi to New York or Boston. My father was en- 
gaged in business, and when his trading-point changed from St. 
Louis to Boston, it was very difficult for him to get the right 
kind of money to take to Boston. Different kinds of money 
were subject to different kinds of discount. There were perhaps 
five hundred banks that emitted currency, and the money was 



8 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

worth from ten cents a dollar to par, arid the skill of the banker 
consisted in his being able, jirsl, to tell a "counterfeit," which 
was ab(nit as common as the genuine money; and, second, to 
tell what, upon any particular day, the currency of any certain 
bank was worth. So, in buying a })ill of goods, if the purchaser 
handed my father a bill which he was not familiar with, he im- 
mediately sent out and asked the bank what it was worth, and 
if the bank said it was worth eighty-five cents on the dollar, it 
went at that figure, and every week my father received a ])i-inted 
folio publication, a large one, called ''The Counterfeit Detector," 
in which the salient points of each counterfeit upon each kind 
of bill issued by each bank was set forth. It was a voluminous 
magazine. An inquest was hourly held in every store over some 
l)ill, with a magnifying-glass, and the various persons present, 
after reading "The Counterfeit Detector," would pass judgment 
on the bill. My father lost considerable money from time to 
time in the value of money depreciating overnight, so it was his 
wont to deposit every dollar he had in some bank overnight; 
and the bank book had a double column; one column for 
"specie" and one for "currency." The depositor had the I'ight 
to get out of the bank as much specie as he had put into it and 
no more. American silver was quite scarce and Mexican dol- 
lars were a very common currency. The Mexican dollar was 
cut up into eight pieces with chisels and these pieces were called 
"bits." This was a portion of the subsidiary coinage. A Mex- 
ican half-dollar was cut into four and a Mexican quarter-dollar 
was cut into two. So that everything went by dollars and 



IIISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA IXFAXTRY. 9 

"bits," and four bits and six bits were much easier expressions 
than fifty cents and seventy-five cents. I remember in my 1)0}- 
hood to have seen many of these bits; l)ut the United States 
endeavored to supply the ix'0})le ^^'ith fractional coinage, and 
finally succeeded. Afttn-wards the hal)it of using "bits" in 
matters, of price remained in expression, and probably will for 
many years to come. There used to be people pointed out of 
whom it was said that they had cut a dollar up into nine bits, 
instead of eight. 

My father at one time, returning from an absence, brought 
back a box of five-franc })iec(\s, al30ut forty pounds avoirdupois. 
They all went in with the Mexican dollars as dollars, but they 
cost in New Orleans only ninety-five cents each. All hoarding 
was done with silver or with gold, but gold in business was scarce. 
I saw but very little of it before the war. It was impossible to 
hoard any of the paper currency. It was unwise to keep it over- 
night. Each State seemed to have its favorite ciuTency. If 
a person was traveling in Illinois he inquired as to the favorite 
currency of Illinois, and took "Illinois money." If he went to 
St. Louis he took "Missouri money," if he could get it; and the 
banks kept their clerks sorting out money all the time, either 
running the banks together of a State, or the money of a certain 
bank together. The teller who took in the money at a bank 
did not have as much work as the assistants, who were constantly 
sorting money, and if a person was going to travel, he would go 
to the bank and get the money of the State he was to visit, and 
I he bank would charge him "exchange." I remember when my 



10 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

father was going East once, lie went to the bank to know what 
he coLikl get Massachusetts money for, or a draft on Massa- 
chusetts, and they told him twenty-five per cent. My father 
said that he would not pay one-fourth of the money to have it 
taken there. 

Banks were constantly being organized for the purpose of 
unloading onto a connnunity the money which the bank would 
invent; and I remember it stated when I was a boy that an 
Iowa man of our town had got up a bank in North Carolina, 
and, together with one in which he was interested in Iowa, they 
sent their money respectively from one bank to the other for 
circulation, so that the Iowa money was circulated in North 
Carolina, and the North Carolina money was circulated in Iowa. 
Nevertheless, there were some banks and some bankers who as- 
j^ired to great credit, and who kept their paper good and who 
pretended always to redeem in Mexican dollars, thro^^■ing in 
occasionally American gold, and who arranged to have their 
notes, when presented, i)aid l)y banks in 8t. Louis or Cincin- 
nati, that is to say, redeemed in the currenc}^ of those banks, 
but not in specie. A bank that issued money that a person 
could take to St. Louis and put in a bank there, and get out 
the bills of the St. Louis bank, had established a great credit. 
This condition of things continued up until the Civil War. The 
following is from the Burlington Hawk-Eye as late as May 8, 
1861: 

"Persons remitting money to us will save themselves and us 
trouble by sending no Wisconsin money. W^e can't sell it at 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 11 

any price. This is also true of the discredited Illinois currency. 
We can use no Illinois currency except of banks printed in the 
list at the head of this paper, and we only bind ourselves to take 
it if we can use the money when it reaches here. We cannot 
be responsible for breakage on the way.'' 

The list referred to is of 34 banks in various parts of Illinois. 



CHAPTER 2. 

Pistols and Game. — Schools. — Indians. — Free Nc^groes. — Rifles and Tar- 
get-Shooting. — Shooting for Beef and Turkeys. — Fishing and Ferry- 
Boats. — The River Pilots. — The Stage-Drivers. — The Professional Gam- 
blers. — Boots and Shoes. — Counterfeiters. — Gambling. — Stage-Driving. 

The Emigration Prior to 1856 was constant 'and strong. 
People were coming on every steamboat and in multitudes of 
covered wagons. It seemed to me, as I now remember, that 
the settlements were made up of about one-half Americans and 
one-half foreigners. 

Some few people went armed, but in those days the pistol 
was somewhat harmless, and mercifully spared its victim. The 
only pistol of that day that would do much good was what was 
called a ''dueling pistol"; I well remember Virginia farmers 
and Kentucky farmers, who lived in the neighborhood, had 
dueling pistols, two in a box. Some of the country boys used 
to steal out those dueling pistols and go a squirrel-hunting 
with me from time to time. The squirrels in those days in the 
forests were very numerous; turkeys, deer, coons and possums 
could always be had, and now and then a bear. Ducks and 
geese in spring and fall were seen in m3Tiads; blackbirds and 
pigeons at times filled the sky and blackened the air, and there 
was no boy who could not go out any day and catch his weight 
in fish. Sport was one of the habits of the people. The boys 
went on cami)-hunts, and although mere boys, they would take 

(12) 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 13 

along forty cents' worth of whisky and ten cents' worth of to- 
bacco, which, as prices then ran, was enough for the whole party 
for the whole trip. The farmers — and there were many who 
were wealthy, or at least aspired to a sort of baronial way of 
living — had many dogs, and fox-himting was very common. 
To start on some moonlight evening after supper on a fox-hunt 
and chase foxes all night was the way-up thing to do. A bon- 
fire in the morning at which some coffee was made, and the hunt 
declared off and the whole event discussed, was the end of the 
occasion. 

• Schools were not much organized. I made considerable prog- 
ress in a log school-house in which I was taught by a young lady 
who afterwards became the wife of a man who became a million- 
aire, and who used to speak affectionately of her teaching ex- 
perience. I rememl^er a little blue-ej^ed girl in that log cabin 
who nuisingiy asked why she could not go and play in the 
water with the boys. It was the Mississippi. She is now ed- 
ucating her grandchildren in Paris. From that log school-house 
there have come several millionaires, and other men well known 
in the United States. The studies were few, but it seemed as 
if the principal theory of teaching then, in the log school-houses, 
was to educate the memory. I have often since thought that 
the teaching of those days did much more good than it does 
now, because, after all, memory is about the most necessary 
faculty to be improved. The person who can remember ten 
per cent, more than another of what happens every year will 
in ten years have gained a hundred per cent, more than the 



14 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

other and be much better equipped. Concerning the higher 
and later schools I will speak hereinafter. 

The Indians were constantly on exhibition in the streets, 
coming and going, trading moccasins and various ornamental 
work in the stores for something to eat or drink. One could 
always find Indians somewhere on the streets, and they seemed 
to conduct themselves fairly well. I remember to have seen 
several of them drunk, and seen the excitement on the street 
caused by their arrest and confinement. There were many half- 
Indian and half-white children playing in the streets, talking 
}x)th Indian and English and seeming to enjoy life as much as 
any other children. There were very few colored people, and 
they consisted generally of slaves who had been manumitted 
by their masters, after being brought to Iowa. A black person 
was obliged to have some protector. It was a constant occur- 
rence that they were kidnapped and carried South and sold back 
into slavery, where they could not extricate themselves. They 
were not allowed in slavery to read or write or send off letters, 
and hence slave-stealing was a profession; so it was that a 
colored person was obliged to have a white person as a guardian 
and was obliged to stay close at home. Every once in a while 
there was something very gallant about some of those old slave- 
owners. They had moved from slave territory and had brought 
their slaves with them and freed them. One of these men 
would be on the street and somebody would start a quarrel 
with this man's "nigger," and then trouble would begin of the 
very worst description. The man would fight for his "nigger" 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 15 

the same as he would for his dog or his baby, and when a person 
abused a "nigger" of one of these men, that person had a fight 
on his hands, sure. 

I remember of Cassius M. Clay coming to our town and making 
a violent and vindictive speech against slavery. He held in his 
hand half a lemon which he occasionally bit, and then he would 
lapse off in perorations that would make the crowd howl and yell. 
I remember in this speech of hearing the first alliterative expres- 
sion about "ballots and bullets." All that I can remember of 
his speech is that he said slavery was a curse to his State of Ken- 
tucky, because, he said, every black man that came in kept a 
white man out. 

The Amusements of that Day were generally out of doors. 
In addition to what I have described, there was on all occasions 
and upon all holidays competitive rifle-shooting. The country 
was full of the old ]jioneers, and the rifle of those days was a 
home-made weapon practically. Every town had a man who 
was considered the l)est man in the country to make a good rifle. 
1 have watched rifles made by hand a great many times. Every- 
body seemed to have his favorite style, and a person was meas- 
ured for a gun the same as he would be now for a suit of clothes. 
The rifle was made in length, size and weight proportionate to 
the strength and height of the individual; so some one person 
would want a rifle with a three-and-a-half-foot l)arrel to weigh 
nine pounds, and to shoot a ball say fourteen to the pound, 
and to have so many revolutions in the twist, and he ordered 
his gun so made, the same as now a person would order an over- 



16 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

coat made, with precise description. Every marksman seemed 
to have his own ideas as to the length of barrel, twist, and weight 
of bullet. The bullets went by the pound. One person would 
say, "I would not have a gun that did not shoot a Inillet forty 
to the pound," while others agreed upon sixty or some other 
number, and when a person showed his favorite^ gun the first 
question was, "How many does it run to the pound?" or in 
briefer terms, "What does she run?" I remember on one oc- 
casion an old gentleman borrowing a chew of tobacco ; the per- 
son from whom it was borrowed expressed a good deal of sur- 
prise at the size of the chew which was bitten off; the man apolo- 
getically observed, "My mouth runs four chews to the i)ound." 
The Germans were, of all foreigners, the ones who seemed 
most devoted to shooting, and they had their target societies 
that would compete in shooting against the hunters and trappers 
and pioneers ; so that shooting for beef and shooting for turkeys 
was constantly going on, and every person shot with his own 
gun. "Shooting for beef" was simply that some person would 
kill a fat animal and put up the quarters, to be shot for, at say 
ten cents a shot, more or less; at a distance of one hundred 
yards, more or less. The person making the best "string" to 
get the quarter of beef. If a person took a dollar's worth of 
shots, ten shots at ten cents a shot, and shot at the target, they 
measured the distance of each bullet-hole from the center of 
the target, and if the Um shots aggregated a distance of, say, 
ten inches, that was his "string." The person who made the 
shortest "string" got the beef, and it was always a matter of 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 17 

fun to sec the man shoulder the quarter of beef and walk off 
with it. In shooting for beef, everybody carried his own target, 
which consisted of a board drawn and decorated according to 
the taste of the shooter, and this board the shooter carried home 
with him for exhibition if the ''string'' was a good one. Hence, 
people had their boards as trophies of the shooting that they had 
done on certain occasions. I remember one time, when some 
persons in a store one evening were telling wonderful and fan- 
ciful stories about their adventures with Indians and game, 
an old gentleman who had listened somewhat reflectingly for 
some time got up and walked out of the room, saying, "Well, 
I will take in my board," which was construed by those present 
to mean that there was no use of his attempting to engage in 
a lying contest with the balance of them. Once in a while 
some particularly good marksman would be ''barred." For 
instance, on Fourth of July handbills would be circulated that 
John Smith up at Distillery Point would have shooting for beef, 
ten cents a shot; distance, one hundred yards; free for all 
except Tom Jones, or free for all guns under four-foot Itarrel, 
or with some other limitation which suited the proprietor of the 
occasion. It was a matter of great pride to a man to be "barred." 
Shooting for turkeys* was more fun. The turkey was put in a 
box just high enough for him to stand in and put his head out 
through a hole in the top. He was generally moving his head, 
and the box was juit at a distance of 125 yards, and for a cer- 
tain specified sum any man could shoot at the turkey. I have 
frequently seen two wagon-loads of turkeys go off in an after- 



18 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

noon, and it used to appear to me that the best shots were those 
who belonged to the German military company. There were 
many professional hunters who were verj^ fine shots, but there 
were several of the (lermans who held them even. I remember 
one time a G(>rman, of whom I had been taking German lessons 
at the reciuest of my father, shot the heads off of six turkeys 
in succession, and he gave me one to carry home. 

The Mississippi River was a wide and deep river, and the 
first ferry-boats were run with horsepower. They would start 
with a load and then slowly jog upstream imtil by going across 
diagonally they could reach their landing on the opposite shore. 
These horse ferry-boats were always crowded with people, and 
owing to the kindness and indulgence of the owners the boys 
could always fish from the ferry-boat. The result was that 
some boy was alw^ays hauling out a large catfish. I remember 
straggling home one afternoon with two large catfish, one in 
each hand, their tails dragging on the ground, and I so ex- 
hausted before I got home that I had to stoj) and guard the 
catfish until somebody came who could help me on the trip. 
Afterwards, steam ferries were introduced, and afterwards the 
river was bridged. 

Three classes of persons seemed to lay on the most style in 
the commuiiity. They were the riier pilots, the stage-drivers, 
and the i)rofessional (/amblers. The professional gambler was 
a man whom I will always well rememb(>r. He wore black broad- 
cloth, with heavy gold watch-chains and highly polished boots. 
In those days everybody wore boots. Shoes appear to have 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 19 

been a subsequent invention. I never wore a pair of shoes 
until I went into the army (1861). 

The arrest of counterfeiters was very frequent. The business 
of counterfeiting was one whicli involved a great amount of 
talent. I have on various occasions seen officers go by with 
counterfeiters all dressed in black the same as the gamblers. 
The two professions ran together. The gamblers generally trav- 
eled on the Mississippi river steamboats and gambled until 
for some act they were put off. If they were unusually lucky 
and had won a great deal of money, the captain would push 
them off on the first landing, if they would not return the money 
when demanded by the loser; most losers would not demand it 
back. It was impossible to prevent gambling, because it seemed 
as if it were part of life. I never traveled on a Mississippi river 
steamboat in those days but what I saw prodigious gambling 
taking place. Every steamboat had a bar, and there was 
enough drinking on every steamboat to support a bar and keep 
a barkeeper. Nowadays the barkeeper would starve to death ; 
almost everybody in those days patronized the bar. When 
the gamblers had played cards with the passengers and had 
made winnings they left the steamboat, and worked the towns 
with counterfeit money. If they lost, they often lost bad money, 
but if they won, they won good money. The first game of cards 
I ever saw was on an Ohio river steamboat coming around to 
St. Louis, and I remember l)oth gold, silver and bank })ills 
piled up on the table. On one trip down to St. Louis I remember 
a man with twenty-dollar gold-pieces piled up in front of him. 



20 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

which my father said was several thousand dollars in aniount. 
As any boy would, I watched the game, and when it was over 
the gaml)ler took the pack of cards and made me a skillfully 
built card house as big as a bucket, which I carried around 
for a da}'. 

The pilots of the boats each had his run, and when the run 
was over they went to the first-class hotel. They were persons 
who had upon them great responsibility. They received large 
pay and were the nobility of the salaried class. To be a pilot 
and to be responsible for the boat and its passengers and cargo 
while on a run was considered a great thing. It was often dis- 
cussed among the boys how when they grew up they were going 
to be pilots. 

The stage-coach drivers were the next of the aristocracy- 
The stage-coach driver endeavored to exalt his profession to 
the dignity of the pilot. The stage-coach was the principal 
means of public conveyance outside of the steamboat. The 
stages were of the so-called "Concord" style, with big heavy 
leather springs. They had come West from the Atlantic coast, 
and the city of Concord, New Hampshire, which had originated 
the variety during the early days when civilization was grow- 
ing, had enlarged its business and manufactories until the Con- 
cord coach was the favorite type. The driver always boarded 
at a hrst-class hotel, and wore the finest, high-heeled calfskin 
boots, which fitted him so tightly as to give him pain. Then 
he had "doeskin" pantaloons and large gauntlet gloves which 
came up to his elbow, and a whip which took several years of 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 21 

practice to learn the handling of. The driver would never turn 
his finger to do anything but simply drive. He took no care of 
the stage or the horses. A subordinate drove the stage up in 
front of the hotel and held the horses by the head. When the 
time arrived, and the passengers were seated, the driver mounted 
the box, cracked the whip and off he went, generally with horses 
pretty nearly on the run. He drove his accustomed route to 
where he met a return stage or returned with his own. He did 
not look after the feeding, watering, or attention of the animals, 
but when he came back he drove up to the hotel, where a man 
was in waiting, threw the lines over onto the sidewalk, put the 
whip in its socket, shouted to Tom, Dick and Harry to come in 
and take a drink with him, and they all went in, and he told 
them everything that had happened on the trip and discussed 
the program for the evening. He had a couple of pistols and a 
water-proof coat on the box with him, and if he had heard any- 
thing about highwaymen he inmiediately reported it. He was 
out in all kinds of weather, was brave and alert, and as tough 
as a pine knot. 



CHAPTER 3. 

The Churches. — -Lecturers. — Horse-Thieves. — Robbers.^" Banditti of the 
Prairies." — Steamboat Robberies. — Pistols and Guns. — Indian Ponies. 
— Homemade Clothes. — Boots.— Hogs and Bacon. — Fiddlers. — Pitts- 
burg Coal and Lumber. — Lamps and Oil.— Fire Engines and Fights. — ■ 
Panic of 1857. — " Shinplasters." — Fractional Currency. 

The churches in those days were small and feebly attended. 
The denominations seemed to be numerous enough, and they 
seemed to go according to the political beliefs of their attend- 
ants. The Protestant churches were always inferior in con- 
struction and attendance to the Catholic. The Catholic church 
always had. more members, mostly Irish and German, than the 
others. Church fairs, church frolics and church picnics were a 
matter of frequent occurrence. There was constantly some ex- 
cursion or some picnic or some fair or festival being held ; there 
were also a great many lectures. The churches were always 
open for lectures, free ; and it seemed as if lecturing had a great 
stimulus, because there were lectures all the time by somebody. 
For instance, an army officer would be seen with his shoulder- 
straps at a hotel. He would be asked where he was from. He 
would tell, and then he would be asked to lecture. I remem- 
ber all sorts of lectures from all sorts of people upon all sorts of 
subjects, and it seems to me now as if it were one of the chief 
amusements of those times. It was a very proper one when we 
remember that the Iowa towns then Avere far ofT from any rail- 
road, or any literary or trade center, and the people were obliged 

(22) 



' HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 23 

to provide thenisclvcs with aiiiiisenients. The Germans had 
theatricals galore. 

During the Early Days of Iowa horse-thieves and robbers 
were plenty. A man might be kno{;ked down and robbed al- 
most anywhere; there seemed to be more incentive for it then 
than now, because people carried their money more with them 
then than now. Banks were too insecure to permit a person to 
trust them far, and although there were many banks of very 
high standing, the condi-tion was perilous, and it seemed as if 
everybody expected that sooner or later every bank would have 
to "go broke" or "fail up," and there was more of a feeling of 
distrust in the community ten times over than now. So that 
robber}^ and organized bands of robbers were common, and I 
remember of many arrests and at least one hanging, and several 
trials of persons who were claimed to belong to what were then 
known as "The Banditti of the Prairies." It was claimed 
that these gangs would distril)ute themselves along the river 
and would get on one after another at different landings, as the 
boats went up the river, and finally after riding along as con- 
federates until they had discovered what passengers had money, 
would rob the passengers and then get off one at a time at dif- 
ferent landings as they had got on. I do not remember ever to 
have ridden on the Mississippi river a hundred miles at a time 
without some circumstance of robbery taking place upon the 
boat, and I was on steamboats often with my father and rela- 
tives. Upon two different occasions I remember the boat to 
have been stopped out in midstream and every passenger lined 



24 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 



u|) in the cahiii, while the ofHcers searched the l)()at in every 
])arti('ular and then searelied every passenger. I ivineinber 
one morning a passenger breaking out of his stateroom during 
breakfast; his suspenders were hanging down his Ijack, and he 
shouted, "I am robbed! I am robbed!" The passengers all 
arose from breakfast because the man shouted in such an ex- 
cited manner. He said that somebody had taken sixteen hun- 
dred dollars, and that it was in a leather bag. The captain 
satisfied himself that the man was in earnest, and ordered eveiy 
passenger into the ladies' cabin, and the }\assengers stood there 
in a larg(^ gi"oiip. No track of the money could be found, and 
the passengers w^ere all searched. Afterwards on tlie floor among 
the group of passengers was found a flexible leather bag which 
had been trodden under foot and which the man recognized as 
the bag from wliich his money had l^een taken. The robber 
was among the passengers in the group, but could not jje identi- 
fied. I remember upon one occasion I heard a good deal of 
noise about four o'clock in the morning. There were so many 
burnings and explosions tliat we were always afraid that the 
boat would somehow get on fire or explode ; so, w^hen any noise 
took place everybody got up. Nobody ever seemed to imdress 
when going to bed. I got uj) in the morning, hearing this com- 
motion, and looked out and saw the mate walk out on the gang- 
plank which had been laid out on the bank of the river right in 
the heart of a deep, dense forest. A light shone from burning 
wood in a large iron cresset. These cressets w^re made by 
blacksmiths, and w^ould hold an armful of stovewood. It was 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 25 

an iron frame on an iron stalk made sharp at the end so that it 
could be pushed down into the ground. The cresset was burn- 
ing brightly on the l:)ank, and in back of it was the black and 
somber forest. The mate got the gang-plank out onto the l)ank 
and five gamblers all dressed in broadcloth were walked out, 
and then the plank drawn in and the steamboat went its way. 
I remember of the mate saying that those fellows would get 
mighty hungry before they found anything to eat. They had 
won a lot of money from a passenger, and would not give it back 
when the wife of the passenger demanded it. The captain, so 
it appears, had got a i^osse of his men with guns, and had made 
the gamlilers give up what they had won and then made them 
get off on the bank where they might have to walk, nobody 
knows how far or where or through what, to reach a human 
habitation in what was then a wild country. 

The Banditti of the Prairies seemed to thrive as the emigra- 
tion increased, and I do not know any house of the time that did 
not have a gun, nor do I remember a boy that did not have a 
l)istol. It seemed as if pistols and boys went together, and the 
boys were always shooting the pistols and always having some 
accidents with them. Pistols were for sale everywhere, made so 
as to be used with a percussion cap, which was not then an old 
invention, but they were muzzle-loading, and although I do not 
think I had any more experience than most of the boys of the 
time, I remember three of them to have burst in my hand, 
while I was never injured. 

When I was fifteen I was measured for a rifle. It was m{ 



26 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

and was a splendid, good-shooting weapon. It was remarkably 
accurate. I have often thought since then that no more accurate 
gun for short range was ever made. It cost me $14, and as soon 
as I got it I went to work ''barking" squirrels, which was the 
scientific way of killing them. It consisted in killing the squirrel 
without breaking its skin. The squirrel being seen lies flat on 
the tree watching, and the science consisted in shooting at the 
l)ark of the tree under the squirrel's throat, so that the concus- 
sion on the bark would knock him off and kill him. 

Indian ]}onies were cheap, and somebody was always want- 
ing to trade them for something, and it was a very dull boy 
who could not get hold, first or last, of a pony; so that all the 
boys had ponies and everybody could ride a horse, — and every 
boy could get a job of work. There was not much money in the 
work, but he could nevertheless get a job of work. The saw- 
mills and the brick-yards and the stone quarries were being con- 
stantly drawn upon, and when I needed a little spending-money 
that I could not get any other way I would run into a sawmill 
or a brick-3'ard and pick up a couple of dollars. It was some- 
times pretty hard work for a boy — carrying slabs away from 
back of a circular saw or toting brick out into the sun, but the 
constant emigration supplied a field for business, and every boy 
could get the monej'^ to buy a pony, and a gun. 

The clothes were made by old women, as a rule. There were 
widows and others who, as seamstresses, would go around to the 
houses and make the clothes for the children. There were a 
couple of old ladies who always came to our house and whom 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 27 

my mother employed to make clothes, and my mother frequently 
did the cutting-out of the clothes herself. They were not sci- 
entifically fashioned, but I never foimd any trouble with them. 
The boots were made by shoemakers at their shops, who would 
in advance take orders and turn out the boots as they got around 
to it and send them to their destination. I remember that I was 
a pretty large-sized boy before I had any ''rights-and-lefts." 
The boots I wore would fit either foot, and each was put on the 
first foot that it came to. I remember the first time that I ever 
got a pair of boots that were ''rights-and-lefts," and it pleased 
me a great deal to think how scientific the world was then be- 
coming. There were old women who knit stockings as a busi- 
ness, and there were women who made men's caps. I do not 
remember of ever wearing a hat until I went into the army. 
The collars of the shirts were all made onto the shirt, so that the 
collar and the shirt were washed together; the collar turned 
down, and the boy wore a necktie of such gaudy color as the 
taste of his mother permitted. 

During the winter skating was much enjoyed as an exercise, 
and large bonfires were built on the ice, and every boy had 
skates. While this was going on the farmers were piling up 
dressed pork on the wharves as if it were cord wood. The hogs 
were slaughtered and hung up and frozen stiff, then they were 
hauled into town, bought by the dealers and piled on the wharves, 
frozen, under tarpaulins. There were boats, in the nature of 
barges, that would go up in the fall and get frozen in during the 
winter; and when the ice melted they were loaded with this 



28 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

frozen moat and taken down to St. Louis. Such meat as did 
not make this trip was cut up and smoked and made into "sides" 
and bacon. Tliese sides and })acon were packed into the l^arges 
and, as before described, taken down to New Orleans. Often 
jolly parties supplied with provisions, li(iuors and tobacco made 
the trip to New Orleans for sheer fun, alwaj^s having a fiddler 
along. It seems to me now as I look back that in my boyhood 
eveiy fifth man was a fiddler. There was never any troul)le to 
find all the fiddlers that were needed for dances and festive oc- 
casions. They fiddled all night for two dollars. 

About the 3'ear 1856 a gas plant was advocated in our little 
city. Some time afterwards gas was put in and lamp-posts were 
erected on some of the princi})al corners of the streets, but gas 
was not much used. The people still adhered to tallow candles 
and oil lamps. Coal oil was not invented, and various kinds of 
oils were used with a wick, which required to be constantly 
picked up so as to burn brighter. Lard oil was most commonly 
used, but there were in the market various kinds of fish oil made 
from ocean fish, the chief of which was ''refined sperm" and 
"walrus." Everybody l)urned wood, and most families made 
their own soap except the best-to-do families in the cities. The 
coal used in the gas works and what little was elsewhere used 
was called "Pittsburg coal," and was represented as having been 
brought from Pennsylvania or West Virginia, and was hauled in 
barges towed by the steamboats. Tlie Iowa, Illinois and Mis- 
souri coal mines were not dreamed of. The first pine lumber 
used came from Pittsburg, Penn., and I remember that a city 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 29 

hotel, which in an early day was considered a very nice hotel, 
was claimed to have been finished up from pine lumber coming 
from Pittsburg, Penn., to Iowa by river. 

Fire companies were voluntary organizations, without pay. 
Fire cisterns were placed in the streets and water forced up into 
them from the river by horsepower and by hand engines. The 
city had two fire engines ; one was of the best pattern, a double- 
decker worked by sixteen men. Everybody ran to a fire and 
everybody helped on the hand engines. As soon as one man 
was tired another took hold; the work was constant, and a 
good stream was thrown. The regular firemen were very proud 
of their engines, and the hook-and-lailder company, being a sep- 
arate organization of its own, felt that it had a duty to do in 
having a fight with the engine company at the end of every 
fire. In jad, fighting seemed to be the order of the day. No- 
body regarded fighting as serious, and down on the wharves it 
seemed to be nearly a continuous performance between the deck 
hands, lumbermen, ferrymen, and loafers. 

The Panic of 1857 very much restricted all kinds of business. 
All kinds of money became scarce and coin practically went 
out of existence, so that it was almost an impossibility to do 
business for want of small change. As the matter became more 
stringent, fractional currency was issued by the principal mer- 
chants, and tickets good for fifty cents, or good for twenty-five, 
ten or five cents were issued by them. The counterfeiting of 
these tickets became an occupation; and the issuance of such 
tickets became general. I remember one time my father was 



30 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

to be paid fifty cents, and the parson offered my father five ten- 
cent tickets good on the town plasterer. The plasterer was a 
worthless, drunken fellow who ''emitted money" under the 
same constitutional right as others. My father was willing to 
take ten cents' worth of plastering tickets on the fifty, but he 
sorted out from the debtor's pile such tickets as he w^as willing 
to take for the balance. The debtor had a double handful. 
The ticket was of course good for plastering. I remember my 
father had a drawer in which he had about a gallon of these 
tickets of various kinds, and in making change the person se- 
lected out what he thought he could use of various persons. 
Some clearing-house arrangement Was most probably in exist- 
ence^by which different persons exchanged with each other 
their tickets, but as to that I do not know. Tickets were legiti- 
matechange for tickets, but not for bank-bills or ''currency." 

Shortly after the panic of 1857 it seemed that its influence in 
the East was to throw thousands of people "West, and the emi- 
gration became greater and greater. Only a few compara- 
tively came by steamboat at this date. Miles and miles of 
covered wagons poured through from Illinois. Out on the edge 
of the towns great camps w-ere located with fires constantly 
burning, one group coming as another passed on. The emigra- 
tion seemed to modify the political tone. Those who came in 
wagons from the North seemed to be mostly opposed to slavery, 
while those who came in the steamboats, and appeared to have 
some property, seemed to be in favor of slavery. The discus- 
sion upon the subject Jiever for an instant ceased. 



CHAPTER 4. 

The Harness-Maker. — The Workman. — The Discussions. — The Mudsill. — 
Schools and Education. — Uncle Tom's Cabin. — Aunt Phyllis's Cabin. — 
Attitude of Church. — Church Support of Slavery. — Campaign of 1856. — 
The Wide-Awakes. — Douglas and Lincoln. — Lincoln's Speech. — Doug- 
las's Speeches. — Douglas's Theories. — Popular Sovereignty. 

My father had a good old Puritan idea that every young 
man should learn a trade, so he assigned me to a term of six 
months of school each year and six months work each year at' 
the bench. I became a good harness-maker, and made coach 
harness. I worked often in company with as many as twenty- 
five others. The harness business at that time was perhaps 
a fair index of the trade condition of the times. The finished 
workman in the harness business was the "jour." He was a 
good workman; in fact, an excellent workman. They were 
a class of bright men, as I now recollect their discussions ; they 
were reading men. They would work at their trade and mean- 
while at the bench discuss important topics. The first time 
that I ever heard of the great Cromwell was by some ''jour" 
workman discussing him at the bench. The "jour" talked of 
him in a manner which, as I now remember, indicated a close 
study of his life and times. They talked about the wars of 
Napoleon and of Europe and the American Constitution, and 
discussed slavery constantly. A "jour" harness-maker would 
come to the city, go to the proprietor of a harness-shop, present 
his card, and ask the latter if he had need for 'any work being 

(31) 



32 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

made up. The i)roi)ri('tor would perhaps say, "Yes, — I want 
four dozen riding-bridles made up," of such-and-such a pattern. 
The "jour" would say, "What do you pay?" An agreement 
being reached, the "jour" would go around to the hotel, change 
his clothes, bring around his ornamental box made of stamped 
leather, or something of the kind, which contained his kit. 
He would then go to work, make up the stuff, and it would 
be inspected and paid for. Then the proprietor would ask him 
if he wanted to do some more work, and he would say, "No;" 
I am just looking around." There was no harness-makers' 
union. He would scarcel}?' be gone before another "jour" would 
come ; and for that reason the hands in the shop were changing 
constantly, and they were alwa3's telling of what they had seen 
and wh(u-e they had just been and where they proposed to go. 
It used to be a boast among some of them that they had done 
work in every State in the Union. As I now remember it, 
it would seem to me that they were the most peripatetic work- 
ingmen in existence. One of them would, for instance, indulge 
in a talk like this: "Last month I was in Vicksburg, and So- 
and-So that runs the big shop on Water street is working ten 
niggers and only two white men. He has just bought a mighty 
bright nigger down in New Orleans who was a shoemaker, 
and he wanted me to teach him how to make blind-bridles, 
but I would not do it." Then another would say: "I was 
down in Nashville five years ago, and did not have any diffi- 
culty in getting a job; but I went around lately to the shop 
there where I worked last and the boss owns all of his own help. 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 33 

all niggers, — has not got a white man in the shop except the 
foreman, and won't keep him long." There was so much of 
this sort of talk that it all went toward demonstrating that as 
the colored man was trained up he would take the place of all 
skilled labor in the South. Hence it was that among the tramp 
"jours" it seemed as if they were all Abolitionists and opposed, 
to slavery; I am inclined to believe that it was from the work- 
ingmen that the opposition to slavery received its first and. 
most powerful impulse; the hatred for slave-owners and what 
they called the ''slave oligarchy" was bitter in the extreme 
among the workingmen who had worked more or less down 
South. 

Senator Hammond of South Carolina, a Southern leader in 
Congress, in March, 1S5S, referring to the workingmen of the 
North, called them the ''mud-sills" of society. In those days 
a "mud-sill" was a well-known term. Water-mills were erected 
along all streams, and the lowest timbers of the mill that were 
put down in the bottom amid the mud and water were called 
"mud-sills." They were what the mill rested on, and were 
usually made of black walnut, because it was the wood which 
longest resisted the action of the mud and water. The. idea 
of the Southern Senator was that the North had become a 
manufacturing community, and that its progress rested upon 
the skilled lalDorers, and that they were the mud-sills of its 
organization and support. The laboring-men immediately took 
up the phrase, and it was a very common manner of greeting, 
then, for one to greet the other as a "mud-sill"; and in the 



34 THElLYONlpAMPAIGN. 

morning if one workman met another coming to the bench, 
he would say to him: "Good morning, old mud-sill; how ditl 
you sleep last night?" But the significance of the expression 
was not nuu'h relished by the Northern people. Hence it was 
that the Civil War was in fact a great lal:)or movement, and the 
most intense sentiment existed in that portion of the community 
from which the strongest and most active recruits could be 
drawn, — the workingmen. Hence it was, after the first battle 
of Bull Rim, when things seemed in such a disastrous and dis- 
organized condition and when so many were losing heart, and 
Lincoln had issued a call for three hundred thousand volun- 
teers, following it in a very short time with a call for three 
hundred thousand more, that the workingmen of the North 
volunteered with the most miraculous speed and spontaneity. 
They felt that they would be opening up a labor market by 
breaking down slavery and overthrowing the competition of 
unhired labor. This sentiment seemed to permeate the foreign- 
born Americans, as well as the native-born; each seemed to 
feel the same necessity and the same impulse. This will ac- 
count for the personnel of the company and regiment whose his- 
tory I am writing. 

Education in those days seems to have been on somewhat 
different lines from the present, as I have stated, because there 
was so little known then of what is known now. In the higher 
class schools then recently established the United States Con- 
stitution was a separate study and was made considerable of, 
the school text-book, I remember, being entitled, "The Govern- 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 35 

mental In.structor," upon which we were rigidly drilled. It 
seems to me in looking back that more than anything else in 
those days there were studied and discussed the formation and 
science of our government, the separation of its various dejjart- 
ments, and its general scope from top to bottom. And it now 
seems to me that we were then engaged in the perfecting of a 
new scheme of government — the Republic — which had to 
undergo a vast amount of argument and criticism. There 
were schools of political theorists in those days who claimed 
such forms of government to be republican, that to-day would 
hardly be classed as such. I remember more than one philoso- 
pher of the period who thought that the people ought to elect 
only the members of the Legislature and the Governor, and 
that the Governor ought to appoint all of the subordinate offi- 
cers of the State, even including the mayors of the cities, the 
county officers, and justices of the peace; that there ought to 
be one responsible head elected by the people, and then that 
responsible head held responsible for all of the local adminis- 
tration. And they called such ideas ''republican." 

Uncle Tom's Cabin was a book of which I well remember 
the appearance. It came first as a serial in an Eastern news- 
paper. As soon as it appeared in book form my father brought 
home a copy, in two volumes, and he and mother took turns 
in reading it aloud ; I listened. Afterwards, I read it to myself. 
It seemed as if everybody else read it. From a political point 
of view it was like pouring a bucketful of coal-oil on a bon- 
fire. Everybody knew the book and everybody discussed it. 



36 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

Every Abolitionist read it, and every champion of slavery read 
it so as to meet the discussion. The latter scoffed at the in- 
human features of the presentation and pronounced them false 
and overdrawn, and dilated proudly on the portion that was 
kindly and humane as being a truthful portrayal of the benevo- 
lent and philanthropic institution of slavery. No novel ever 
written was so thoroughly understood. No country was ever 
before thrown into such a spasm by a novel. In the harness- 
shop and in the fire company and on the camp-hunt, the boys 
talked over and discussed the characters of the novel, criticised, 
praised or condemned them as if they were real, live, acting, 
breathing people whom we all knew. Mrs. Stowe, in obedience 
to what she felt a ]iublic demand, published another book, called 
"The Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin." It seemed a great collection 
of scrap-book facts. It was intended to back up any state- 
ment that had seemed to be overdrawn. I guess any expression 
hostile to slavery could be proven by the new book. My father 
bought a copy of it, but I never read it and I never knew of 
anybody who did. Those who knew, knew ; and those who did 
not know, did not want to know. To offset the force and effect 
of ''Uncle Tom's Cabin" the South brought out with great ac- 
claim and trumpeting a novel called "Aunt Phyllis's Cabin." 
Paid -for editorials and notices appeared everywhere. The 
book was handbilled and placarded. It was be-praised and 
be-puffed in all the book-notices and metropolitan newspapers. 
It was heralded as a "complete answer" to "Uncle Tom." 
It "completely overthrew" (?) it. Editorials commented on 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 37 

"Aunt Phyllis" as being one of the most graphic portrayals of 
"the peculiar institution," its beneficence and its usefulness, 
ever written. My father bought the book and I tried to read it. 
I did read most of it. It was "cooling and healing and drawing." 
It was mildly hydro-lacteal, although toward the end it was less 
milk and more water. It was no answer; it was the best that 
could be said ; it was the most that could be written, and it fell 
in a short time into a deep and well-earned oblivion as an at- 
tempt to bolster up an illogical and vicious institution. But 
"Aunt Phyllis" seemed then to be a truthful exposition of the 
theory which the pulpit and the ministry seemed to adopt. 
Some of the preachers, generally of minor congregations, es- 
poused the cause of abolition with great force; some of them 
were outspoken and vehement, but the clerical sentiment was, 
as a whole, in my then neighborhood, mildly in favor of slavery, 
and that nothing harsh should be said or done. They put it all 
upon God. If He did not want it, it would not be. "Cursed 
be Canaan" was the expression found in the Bible. The bond- 
age of the African was alleged to be more of a blessing to the 
African than to the white man, and it was claimed to be God's 
plan (l:)y those who knew His plans) to bring up the African 
from a barl^aric condition to usefulness and Christianity. There 
was in fact a great deal of good argument in the proposition that 
the African was a barbarian who was being bred up from a can- 
nibal to a Christian, and was being taught industry and good 
manners. There was much of truth in it, but no sentiment. 
It was difficult to overcome the influence and arguments of the 



38 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

church in favor of slavery. The phrase, ''Cursed be Canaan," 
seemed to be invincil^le. I never lieard but one answer that 
seemed to meet the point, and that was by a Scotch carriage- 
trimmer in my father's employ, named Givens, who said, ''The 
Bibl(> be damned." Thereupon all the workmen, about twenty 
in number, began pounding upon their benches with hammers. 
Givens was an Abolitionist. 

As matters progressed and the anti-slavery sentiment in- 
creased, the preachers had less to say about "Ham" and "Ca- 
naan," and joined more and more in the anti-slavery procession. 
In fact, the church could not control the movement; could not 
even guide it : it was a movement by the white man for the white 
man's benefit, by the laborer for the laborer, and what the Af- 
rican had been, was, or would })e, was only collaterally consid- 
ered. The movement, as I have said, was a great labor move- 
ment. It was an effort by the paid free laborer to break down 
the competition of the unpaid slave laborer. It involved not 
only the dignity of labor, but the very existence of free labor, 
and biblical texts did not meet the exigencies of the situation. 
Nor did the laborers believe that anyone had with certainty 
detected what the plans of God were; others with a spirit of 
prophecy declared that God was going to change His plans. Of 
this subject I will speak again in the next chapter. 

When General Fremont was nominated, in 1856, his candidacy 
was thoroughly espoused Ijy all of th(> anti-slavery element, and 
we boys who had been brought up in the atmosphere of excite- 
ment and disturbance readily fell into the campaign. An or- 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 39 

ganization was got up, called the ''Young Republicans." It 
was the first marching-club which I had ever seen. We had a 
simple drill to start on; and were all boys under voting age. 
We drilled with great enthusiasm, arid the tactics becoming 
complicated and interesting, we adopted an oilcloth uniform 
with oil lamps. I remember once we needed some oil to fill the 
lamps in the armory, as we called it, and I was sent for ''walrus 
oil." 

The Fremont election was an exceedingly exciting one. The 
latter part of it was a series of free fights. The slave question 
had got into such an acute condition that prior to the voting 
everybody had his mind made up, and everybody was trying to 
convince somebody else, and somebody else would rather fight 
than be convinced. Our Republican Club had a fight every time 
it paraded. As I now recollect, it seems to me that upon the slav- 
ery question the Germans and Irish took opposite sides, although 
afterwards, when the war broke out, it was not so much so. But 
in 1856, my recollection is that the Germans were against slavery 
and the Irish were adherents of the Democratic party, and it used 
to be said that the Democratic party in New Orleans was com- 
posed very largely of the Irish who had settled there. After- 
wards they formed a noted portion of the Confederate army. 
But, nevertheless, I remember some few Germans who were 
Democrats and who were in favor of slavery. There were 
"Anti- Abolition" societies and "Democratic Young Men" socie- 
ties, and considerable opposition to what were then called the 
"Abolitionists," and when the Republican Club paraded there 



40 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

were always rocks thrown in, and before the matter was over 
there was always a fight. The macadam of the streets was very 
generally used on those occasions. ^Mien we paraded one man 
carried a pick. 

When Douglas and Lincoln had their celebrated debates in 
Illinois over their contest for the United States Senate, the whole 
State of Iowa was filled with enthusiasm. Lincoln came to our 
town across the line and made a speech. I remember him well, 
l)ut somehow I was not attracted toward Mr. Lincoln as I was 
toward Mr. Douglas, although I believed as Lincoln did, and 
my father was for Lincoln. Lincoln's speech seemed to be on a 
high plane, but he seemed to me to shoot over the heads of his 
hearers. He was philosophic and argumentative and no doul^t 
convinced many by his logic, but he had such a long, loose, gang- 
ling manner that he seemed sort of ill at ease, and he was not as 
handsome a man as his j^ictures made since then have appeared 
to me to show. He was no orator then. In those days everybody 
went to hear anybody talk. Douglas came to our place twice, and 
got "full" both times. AVe had in our town a very conspicuous 
New England Democrat who was himself a great lawyer and a 
good speaker; he was always full of brandy, and everybody 
said he had more sense when he was drunk than when he was 
sober. I remember the first time that Douglas came to our city. 
He was introduced by this lawyer. Douglas was ''full" as could 
be, and so was the lawyer. The lawyer had a cane, and from 
one of the side benches of the hall when the time came, the law- 
yer took Douglas by the arm and their voyage up onto the plat- 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 41 

form was incredibly amusing, and we all yelled and cheered our 
l)est. There had been juit a table upon the platform. The law- 
yer with the aitl of his cane managed to return back to a seat 
on the side of the platform, leaving Mr. Douglas alone, who 
steadied himself by the table. Mr. Douglas's utterances were 
at first somewhat pointless and labored, but in a little while he 
seemed to get under steam, and before he got through he was 
sobered up so that he could stand away from the table, — and 
such a speech I thought I never heard in my life. If the art of 
oratory is the art of pleasing an audience, Mr. Douglas surely 
had it. He was a pleasant-mannered man, and spoke of Mr. 
Lincoln in kind terms; but his speech was so full of fun and ridi- 
cule and good-natured jest that he soon had his audience com- 
pletely under control. As time went by his speech grew better 
and better, and as he proceeded he seemed to be freer from him- 
self ; before he was through he was prancing over the platform 
and his remarks were followed by applause and yells after every 
sentence, in which I myself joined. Mr. Douglas's second speech, 
made a while after that, was also made when he was greatly un- 
der the influence of licjuor to start with, but the speech improved 
as he proceeded. I remember my father reading a newspaper 
squib about that time in which it depicted Douglas preparing for 
a speech. He had his feet in a tub full of ice-water, and was 
drinking two quart bottles of champagne to get ready to make 
the speech. 

There was something about the attitude of Stephen A. Doug- 
las which, it seems to me, was never plainly understood. My 



42 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

father licld liini in great respect. Yet my father was an in- 
tense Abolitionist. He used to say that Douglas's policy would, 
in time, overthrow slavery. Mr. Douglas advocated a policy 
which he called ''popular sovereignty." It was that the people 
by their votes should be able to control slavery in the Territories. 
This was believed by the Southerners to throw the Territories 
open to conquest by the Abolitionists. It was considered dan- 
gerous because the Northern States were becoming overwhelm- 
ingly populous, and the labor question, that is, the anti-slavery 
question, predominant. It was considered equivalent to say- 
ing that slavery might be exterminated in the Territories. 
This was contrary to slavery principles, viz., that slaveiy was 
recognized by the Constitution; that slavery could go any- 
where, and that "Slavery is national and freedom sectional." 
Further, if the Douglas heresy prevailed, what would be the 
difficulty of applying it to the States after the Territories had 
been subjugated by the Abolitionists. These theories of Mr. 
Douglas were portentous in the apprehension of the Southern 
people. And yet Mr. Douglas advocated .slavery and believed 
in it. What he advocated was a solution of existing difficul- 
ties. It seemed for the time sensible; it recognized the rights 
of the American citizen. It was, in effect, to make slavery 
local, and to give labor a chance in each community. It was 
seen that the Douglas theory would in the long run straingle 
slavery, but would do it gradually and so slowly that much 
time would elapse. The Douglas doctrine would not do for the 
Abolitionists. It was far too slow. It would take a century. 
They wanted it done in thirty minutes. The doctrine would 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 43 

not do for the slaveholding aristocj'acy. It meant a long con- 
flict and death finally by suffocation. But for the United 
States, it was either the Douglas theory, or it was war. The 
ardent people on both sides opposed it. The "Abolitionists" 
and the " Fire-eaters" both opposed it. They nicknamed popu- 
lar sovereignty and called it ''Squatter sovereignty," and voters 
were called "sovereign squats." The latter slang term was so 
universal that it became a term equivalent to the word "people." 
I remember once of a school-house orator beginning his address 
with, "I appear with pleasure before this intelligent body of 
sovereign squats this evening," etc., etc. Mr. Douglas's theories 
went to pieces and he with them. The Abolitionists were geared 
up too high. Their speed was too rapid. They could not 
work with him, and hence they fought him, — and they fought 
hard, — very hard. The South fought him because he was im- 
possible from a Southern point of view. Slavery could only 
live by expansion and aggression. Like a wild animal, which 
it was, it would perish from confinement. To the theories of 
Mr. Douglas, my father was opposed ; my father wanted to see 
slavery wiped out. He wanted to live to see it wiped out. He 
wanted to see it abolished everywhere and anyhow. My father 
was a typical Abolitionist. Mr. Lincoln was slow ; Mr. Doug- 
las was exceedingly slow. To the Fire-eaters, Mr. Douglas 
was altogether too fast, and his election as President meant to 
them ultimate secession, because they preferred disunion to 
abolition. Perhaps it would have been better for the United 
States had Mr. Lincoln been defeated and Mr. Douglas elected 
President. 



CHAPTER 5. 

Fremont's Defeat. — Troubles in Kansas. — Zouave Company Organized. — 
Abolitionists. — Emancipation. — Negro-Stealing. — Boycott. — Attitude of 
Church. — Underground Railroad.— United States Marshals.— Attitude 
of Lawyers. — -Discussion of Constitution. — School Oratory. — A Lincoln 
Story. 

After the defeat of Freniont for President, the slavery dis- 
cussion increased. The troubles in Kansas took a deep hold 
upon the people of Iowa. Every phase of the Kansas question 
was watched with great eagerness and discussed by everybody. 
Societies were formed for the purpose of sending aid to Kansas. 
As the pro-slavery forces had held the Missouri river and cut 
off communications, shipments were made by wagon through 
the southern part of Iowa over into Nebraska and then south 
by the main road. The stuff was gathered by contribution, 
and consisted of food, clothing, and ammunition. These con- 
tributions were sent to certain persons who kept what might 
be called depots, and when a good large wagon-load had accu- 
mulated, it was properly sacked or boxed and sent to the north- 
eastern part of Kansas by contract with some trusted wagoner. 
One of the persons who was made a designated depositary was 
my father, and I remember more than once of his making con- 
tracts and inventorying the contents of the wagon to the per- 
son in charge. If others sent as much as my father the total 
must have been very great, by which I mean upwards of a 
thousand wagon-loads from Iowa. But it was all done in a 

(44) 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 45 

very silent way, and the persons to whom the stuff was sent 
were well-known and trusted persons who had moved to Kansas. 
Several of them had gone from our neighborhood, — young, 
reputable, ardent men, with education and a determination 
to join in the anti-slavery campaign. Several of them after- 
ward became well-known and honored citizens of Kansas. 

The Torch-Carriers of 1856 got a taste of military drill, and 
soon afterward formed a military company of their own, to 
which were added a number of other young men. We bought 
our own uniforms, and after some degree of drilling we became 
quite proficient and gave exhibition drills in the city, and it 
was called by sneerers, "The Abolition Company." It also 
received many courtesies from some of the citizens; they hired 
us a hall to drill in. It was noteworthy that the wealthy people 
seemed to be Democratic in their tendencies, and to be pro- 
slavery. The principal merchants, the principal lawyers and 
the principal bankers gloried in being Democrats and opposed 
to abolitionism ; and a great many who were opposed to slavery 
concurred with them in general political matters, so that it re- 
strained any very ardent public ebullition of sentiment. The 
State had been going Democratic, in politics. 

The word abolitionist was not popular, and there were only 
a few anti-slavery men who would permit themselves to be 
called '^ Abolitionists." Many a man who was an anti-slavery 
man would fight in a minute if he were insulted by being called 
an Abolitionist, because the word ''Abolitionist" as then used 
had a significance attached to it which can hardly now be under- 



46 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

stood, and it grew out of the peculiar condition of things. To 
ilkistrate : There were a great many zealots and a great manj^ 
who desired notoriety, as there are in all coniniunities. They 
desired to be doing things which would attract attention, and 
occasionally one of thesc^ men would say that he had been down 
South somewhere and had influenced certain slaves to run away 
from their masters; or that he had helped slaves to escape. 
Without doubt there was considerable of this going on, and it so 
infuriated the owners of slaves in slave territory that anyone 
caught in the act was immediately shot, imprisoned or hung; 
and as the sentiment of emancipation and liberation grew, it 
became more and more necessar}^ for slave-owners to keep 
strict guard over their property, and the restrictions became 
more and more severe both as to slaves being educated and as 
to their associating together. It became a crime to teach a 
slave the alphabet. It became a crime to talk to a slave about 
escape or about the free States or about liberty, and it became 
a crime among the slaves for them to be seen together in bodies 
or under unusual circumstances or in company wuth any un- 
known white man. Owing to the fact that some slaves by 
accident or peculiar situation acquired the knowledge of reading, 
such slaves became very dangerous persons in the inflammable 
condition which then existed, and the more that repressive 
measures were used by the slave-owners, the more intolerable 
became the condition of the slave. It grew to be one of the 
definitions of an Abolitionist that he was ''a nigger-thief." 
A nigger-thief was, in the nomenclatui'e of the times, not only 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 47 

the worst kind of a thief, but he was a man who might precipi- 
tate a servile insurrection and promote rapine and murder. 

I remember upon one occasion a minister in a Httle pulpit 
advocating the duty, to his meager congregation, of sending 
trusted men with money down South to do missionary work 
among the negroes and explain to- them the rights of freedom 
and direction of Canada ; and to start them on the road to free- 
dom and Canada. I remember not long after the latter event 
that a certain bilious young man made up his mind that he ought 
to attT?mpt this, and he went down into Missouri and in a very 
short time afterwards wrote back for money to get himself out 
of jail. He had been seen talking to a slave, and was com- 
pelled to show where he lived, and where he had come from. 
AVhile nothing was proved against him except the fact that 
he was seen talking to a slave, he was put into a jail, and $250 
was raised and sent down to get him out, and pay his way home, 
where he began lecturing in the field as an Abolitionist and 
''martyr." This class of people were undesirable, and generally 
"frauds." Another middle-aged man of his own volition went 
down into Missouri, and in a very wise manner started some 
little business and occupation, and succeeded in sending ten or a 
dozen slaves up through Iowa to their freedom. It seemed 
that nothing could be proved against him, although he was 
put in jail, and I remember a discussion between my father 
and mother upon that subject as to whether or not the man 
had violated any moral law, my mother claiming that the man 
had a perfect right to go as a missionary to slaves and teach 



48 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

them religious and Christian conduct, but had no right secretly 
to induce them to leave their masters. To this my father 
did not wholly assent, claiming that any person in bondage 
had a right to run away, and that nobody did an immoral thing 
in telling him what his rights were and where to run to. I 
onl}^ give this instance to show to v\'hat an extent the discussion 
of the slavery question entered into every part of life. As 
stated in the last chapter, the ministers differed upon the propo- 
ition. 

I remember a very noted minister saying that slavery was 
a divine institution, established for the especial benefit of the 
slaves; that it took man-eaters from their native haunts and 
compelled them to be of service to themselves and to mankind ; 
and that it was part of a necessary hereditary training to bring 
them up to a position in which they could be useful members 
of society, and that emancipation and the permitting of the negro 
to carry out his idle and animal wishes and instincts was a detri- 
ment to society and to the negro, and was contrary to the divine 
ordinances, which were in turn recognized by the Constitution 
of the United States. The question whether or not the Con- 
stitution recognized slavery was a theme of universal discus- 
sion. Through the missionary efforts — if that is the right 
name for them — of a number of people who were generally be- 
lieved l)y the greater portion of the community to be misguided, 
stations were formed from Missouri to the Canadian line. These 
stations were supported by voluntary contributions from vari- 
ous sources, and the fleeing negro could go from one to another 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 49 

until he reached the Canada line. The persons who kept the 
secret of these stations were ready at a call to come and resist 
the United States marshals. It was not an unusual thing to 
hear a person spoken of as being a man whom the United States 
marshal had called to his assistance to capture a fugitive slave, 
and that the man had told the United States marshal that he 
would not do it, and thereby became a marked man. The 
judges of the courts seemed to uphold slavery, and when the 
deputy United States marshals caught a fugitive there was 
no great difficulty in Iowa in getting him back to his master. 
Although there might be some persons who stood ready to res- 
cue the negro, there were always plenty who believed in slavery 
to assist the marshal. So that, as I now remember, there was 
but very little trouble in that respect, where I lived; and I 
remember several times of seeing fugitive negroes marched 
down the street to the steamboat to be taken South. 

I cannot illustrate the fugitive system as it then prevailed 
better than by an occurrence which happened as follows: A 
new, well-advertised private school having been started in an 
adjoining county by some enterprising people from Massa- 
chusetts, my father thought it best to send me there for six 
months, to see what progress I would make. AMth two or 
three other young men, I boarded at the house of a deacon, 
who was one of the principal men in the village. One night 
one of my room-mates woke me up and said that he had been 
outdoors and that a wagon drove up with six negroes in, and 
that the deacon's wife had given them all a feed, and that the 



50 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

man who JM'ought the negroes had gone back, and that the 
deacon hitched up his own wagon and drove off with these 
negroes north, the wagon apparently being filled with hay. 
After discussing the matter somewhat, we came to the conclu- 
sion that we were boarding at an ''underground railroad sta- 
tion" as it was called. About a week after that one of my 
room-mates conceived that it would be a very bright, inter- 
esting thing for us to black ourselves up and get on some old 
clothes and come up to the house at night and play fugitive 
and get something to eat. So, five of us, all staying at that 
house, managed to get some old clothes; some of us turned 
our clothes wrong side out, we blacked ourselves up, and our 
leader took us forward. As this leader is one of the prominent 
lawyers west of the Mississippi river, a great lawj'cr and a great 
man, his name is withheld. But most excellently did he do 
his part. In a disguised voice he came with us, in the shade 
of the trees, at about one o'clock in the morning, and insisted 
that there should be no lights ; we were given a midnight lunch 
all in the darkness. It was an excellent lunch. Then our 
leader, making an appointment to come again, retreated, as 
he told them he would do, to the timber, and we went around 
back up into our rooms, enjoying the circumstance, until we 
began to reflect that it might mean expulsion from our board- 
ing-house and perhaps from school, and we kept it still. 

The slavery question, besides entering into all discussions, 
entered almost every affair of life, and it produced so much 
bitterness that friends pulled away from each other, business 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 51 

relations changed, and it seemed as if society began to show a 
distinct line of cleavage even back prior to the Fremont elec- 
tion. It certainly did afterwards. My father's business was 
thoroughly boycotted by all of the pro-slavery community. 
Perhaps nowhere stronger than in the ministry was this intolerant 
feeling shown. Devout church people changed their church 
I'elations; pastors found revolutions in their churches and were 
discharged or permitted to resign, or churches split. The Dred 
Scott decision greatly intensified matters. It seemed to me, 
as I now remember, that there wei-e many more lawyers who 
were pro-slavery than anti-slavery. In fact, as I now recol- 
lect, the lawyers of that period, with whom I did not associate 
much but whom I knew simply from hearing them discussed 
or hearing their speeches, — it seems to me now, that the best 
lawyers were pro-slavery. In fact, I do not now remember 
any expression or speech or remark by any lawyer anti-slavery, 
but I do remember many that were pro-slavery, and the dis- 
cussion always went upon constitutional grounds. The dis- 
cussions seemed to be to prove that the Constitution favored 
slavery, recognized it and protected it, and that property in 
chattels included slaves, always had and always would. Negro 
equality was the argument thrown at the anti-slavery adher- 
ents. The question on one side would be: "How would you 
like to see your daughter marry a nigger?" That argument 
was considered a clincher, it being the effort of those advocat- 
ing pro-slavery to show that the moment the slaves were free 
they must of necessity be citizens and have the right to vote. 



52 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

The constitutional proposition came up constantly, whether 
or not any })erson, black or white, born in the United States 
and arriving at the age of twenty-one, was not per se a voter 
as well as a citizen. It was claimed that the courts of North 
Carolina had so held. There was a very common and pithy 
ai'gument used by the anti-slavery people. I first heard it used 
by my father, and it ran as follows: He who takes the prop- 
erty of another forcibly is a thief and a robber. He who takes 
a person's work without paying him for it is a thief and a rob- 
ber. Hence a slave-owner is a thief and a robber. Any man 
who sees a person in the act of being a thief and a robber has a 
right to interfere and prevent it. 

Argument of this kind only tended to increase the general 
bitterness of the situation. 

The whole country was slowly drifting into the vortex of war. 
In our schools where we had debates, it would appear that the 
bo3^s stood about half and half upon the slavery question. In 
those days, Friday afternoons were always devoted to speaking. 
In fact, I think that in those days oratory was more taught than 
now, if it can be said to have been oratory. Of the pieces re- 
cited some afternoons, nearly all of them would be upon either 
one side or the other of the slavery question, being oftentimes 
extracts from Congressional speeches. There was also a great 
deal of so-called poetry — or perhaps rhyme is a better term — 
upon the subject, in which various noted poems were para- 
phrased. I remember of speaking one Friday afternoon a 
piece paraphrased upon Excelsior. Two Congressman had a 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST lOWA INFANTRY. 53 

fight in Washington over the Lcconipton Constitution of Kan- 
sas, and the refrain of the piece instead of being "Excelsior" 
was "Lecompton." It was a very witty and funny produc- 
tion, written from an anti-slavery standpoint, and was very 
loudly received. The piece of music, "Listen to the Mocking 
Bird," must have been invented, or rather written, about the 
first of January, 1855, because it was about that time that I 
remember to have heard it. A paraphrase was rendered by a 
little musical trio one evening which ran, "Listen to the Bonds- 
man's Groan." In fact, the "bondsman's groan" and the crack 
of the "slave-driver's whip" and the "clank of the bondsman's 
chain" were three of the pet phrases of the time. In the school 
compositions, both girls and boys discussed the slavery ques- 
tion in their little simple school theses, and made frequent use 
of these expressions. 

Abraham Lincoln was looming up considerably as an anti- 
slavery candidate. He was not considered to be an advanced 
thinker. In fact, he was looked upon as being a man dragging 
in the rear and as not being up to the real sentiment of the people 
whom he sought to represent. I heard him often discussed as a 
person who was a political coward and afraid to come forward 
and talk the straight stuff. My father had at times but little 
patience with Mr. Lincoln, l)ut greatly admired Governor Seward 
of New York, Horace Greeley, and Charles Sumner. There was 
a prominent Democratic lawyer of Iowa who had known Mr. 
Lincoln during the latter's youth, and he used to tell a great 
many stories about "Abe," as he called him. As the stories 



54 ' THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

which he told have since appeared in print in the current books 
upon tlie hfe of President Lincoln, it is not desirable to repeat 
them, and there is only one of the stories of this Iowa lawyer 
that I have never seen in print. It was this : One time he was 
telling what a lazy man Lincoln was. He said that "Abe" 
did hate to work worse than any man he ever knew; that he 
could work all right and had worked, but it was only when 
poverty and necessity compelled him to work. The lawyer 
told this story to illustrate Mr. Lincoln. He described a country 
store, where Abe Lincoln was clerking. It was not nmch of a 
store, and kept a general lot of stuff, and among other things, 
whisky. The counter was only about eighteen inches wide, 
and stood up pretty high from the floor and was not very long. 
Lincoln, he said, was in the store on the counter lying down, 
with his head on a bolt of native jeans, and the counter was 
not as long as Lincoln, and so he had his feet drawn up with 
one leg over the other, sticking up in the air. Lincoln was 
reading a book. Two men came in and said, ''^^^lisky for 
two." Lincoln never looked up from his book, but reaching 
his long arm down back of the counter seized a bottle and car- 
ried it across to one of the men, who took it, then reached down 
and grabbed a couple of glasses and handed them to the men, 
and they poured out what they wanted and drank what they 
wanted and stuck down a silver dime on Abe's vest, and Abe 
put the bottle back and the glasses back and the men went out; 
and during the whole occasion Abe had never taken his eyes off 
from the liook, never saw the men, and did not know how much 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 55 

they drank. He said: "Now that's Abe Lincoln for you. 
When he was in the store, there wasn't any git-iip to him." 
The person who told this story did not see behind the story. 
Lincoln was after what was in the book. I refrain from giving 
the story-teller's name, because his son afterwards enlisted as a 
private and became a major and a regimental commander of 
one of the best regiments that Iowa ever sent out, and earned 
a title of distinction which he most certainly merited. The 
young man was always a Democrat during the w^ar and was 
a Democrat when he came out. He belonged to that type of 
American citizens, of that day, called "War Democrats," of 
which no better type of citizens either as to bravery or patriot- 
ism was ever seen on this continent or any other. The writer 
feels that way, although he was never of that nuniber. 



CHAPTER 6. 

The Dred Scott Decision. — The John Brown Episode. — Negro Minstrelsy. 

One Great National Occurrence took place in the year 1857. 
It was the promulgation of the Dred Scott decision, in March 
of that year. It had scarcely been handed down and been offi- 
cially printed when a great w^ave of anti-slavery sentiment swept 
across the country. Sentimental matters in governmental af- 
fairs seem to go in waves. The Dred Scott decision seemed to 
produce a tidal wave. My father said the decision was logical 
but unjust. The decision was printed by the million copies; 
it came out as a supplement to many newspapers. The New 
York Tribune published and distributed a great number of copies. 
Everybody discussed it, — men and women, even children over 
the age of fourteen. Scholars in the public schools wrote com- 
positions on it. It was talked up by the press, the church, the 
prayer-meeting and the sewing-society. The Abolitionists there- 
upon contributed more time and money to the propaganda and 
redoubled their efforts. On the other hand, the Fire-eaters cir- 
culated the decision as a clincher, — as an indication that every- 
thing was now settled, and then asked the Abolitionists, "Now, 
will you be good?" The two sides took the decision in a very 
different way. The Abolitionists said, "If that is the law, some- 
thing must be done." The Fire-eaters said, "That is the law, 
and the question is ended." My father, when the Dred Scott 

(56) 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 57 

decision was rendered, seemed to lose much of his veneration 
for the Constitution of the United States. He thought that it 
needed fixing. He thought that if the Constitution could be 
invoked to perpetrate such a wrong as that decision was, — why, 
that then, something, he did not know what, must be done. 
On the other hand, the Fire-eaters developed that wonderful de- 
votion to the "Union as it is and the Constitution as it was," that 
enabled them to speak of the Constitution as the sheet-anchor 
of their politics and hopes. Their devotion to the Constitution 
was extravagant, and remained so until they made a new one 
at Montgomery, Alabama, in March, 1861. 

John Brown and His Career JDecame one of the episodes of 
the times. When he was in Kansas he was a drawback to the 
cause, and did nothing but point arguments against it. He 
was one of those men who are utterly without gift to benefit 
a principle which they espouse. He could not write anything. 
Horace Greeley could with his pen do more good in thirty min- 
utes than a regiment of John Browns could do with a pen in 
a year. He could not make a speech. Jim Lane, an anti-slav- 
ery Democrat, could get onto a store-box, on five minutes' no- 
tice, and do more for the cause than John Brown could do in 
a lifetime by speech-making. John Brown was ambitious, law- 
less, and egotistic. He wanted to be a leader, but lacked pen, 
speech, and ability. He never could get but a few, very few, 
followers, and they were the gullil)le nobodies whom he picked up 
here and there. He was a monomaniac on the subject of his 
own importance, and with a desire to be a leader. A man who 



58 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

does not get ambitious until late in life generally has a bad at- 
tack of it. Brown was vain, and wanted to be the subject of 
neighborhood discussion. His mind had a preposterous way 
of working, and he had no scruples. He made more trouble 
for his friends than for his foes. His actions gave talking points 
for his enemies against his friends. His Free-State colleagues 
had to be his apologists, and many little fictions were invented 
as reasons for his lawless acts. Finally, the Republican party 
had to have him run out of Kansas. They were glad to get 
rid of him. This was December, 1858. It was quite a while 
afterwards that he turned up at Harper's Ferry. He had there 
a mongrel lot of half-baked, witless followers, none of whom 
were ever heard of before in any reputable connection, and of 
whom the survivors were never heard afterwards. The whole 
plan of attack on Harper's Ferry was senseless and irrational. 
The time and place were impossible. As a mental effort, the 
scheme was one of hopeless imbecility. It could end only one 
way. 

The Fire-eaters had achieved a great victory. They pointed 
out from John Brown's career that Abolitionism meant murder, 
invasion, robbery and treason. The Abolitionists could make 
but one answer to all this. They said that John Brown did 
not represent anybody but himself, — that he was insane. ''He 
was a crazy man," — and so the matter was glossed over and 
disposed of. My father thought that John Brown did more 
harm than good to the Abolition cause, and was very much put 
out with the whole performance, and had no sympathy with it. 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 59 



A newspaper said that a Georgian who attended the hanging 
called attention to the fact that John Brown was hung with a 
rope made out of cotton, and that cotton was king. The story 
that John Brown kissed a negro baby on the way to the scaffold 
was invented as a palliative. There was no foundation for it 
and no truth in it. This was told me by a Major with whom I 
afterwards became well acciuainted in the army. He had gone 
from Massachusetts to help defend Brown at the trial. His 
name was Hoyt. The only benefit of the John Brown raid, and 
fiasco, to the North, was to demonstrate what a vast amount 
of scare and apprehension there was among the people in the 
South. Two dozen men threw them into a spasm. The North 
was growing rich and populous and strong, but did not know 
how many ''copperheads" and "doughfaces" there really were. 
About one-third of the North was willing to be bluffed ; in the 
language of the day, they were "Peace at any price." In the 
end they had to be held by the throat with one hand while the 
armies of the North coerced the Confederacy with the other. 

The "Copperheads" constituted about one-third of the 
population of the North; this made the fight about an even 
thing. They were perhaps the most numerous and most con- 
temptible lot of scoundrels that appear in history. They wanted 
the South to win, but would not fight for it. After the war 
was over the soldiers of the North and South, having gotten ac- 
quainted with each other, fraternized. Neither side ever after- 
wards fraternized much with the Northern "copperhead" or 
"doughface." The John Brown raid cut no figure except to 



60 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

injure the Abolition cause, cut off its neutral friends and em- 
barrass the progress of the Republican party. The only way 
to meet the argument of the day was to work John Brown as 
a ''lunatic" for all he was worth. The South worked him as 
an "Abolitionist" for more than he was worth. They overdid 
it, as they did everything else, in those days. 

Negro Minstrelsy is another thing which comes in for con- 
sideration in a survey of the times, although perhaps it per- 
tained more to the North Mississippi valley than to the States 
along the line of the Atlantic. In the vast areas west of the 
Alleghanies were an active, thriving, hard-working, prosperous, 
fun-loving people. They loved wit, and sane, rational music. 
Opera troupes never then visited them. About one-half of the 
music of the community was originated by local talent, such 
as singing societies, string bands, and church choirs. These or- 
ganizations were generally presided over by some German, a 
refugee of the Revolution, a musical artist in training and a gen- 
tleman by inspiration. The balance of the music was furnished 
by the "Nigger Minstrel." There was a great continuous swarm 
of these troupes flying over the country. Good troupes made 
money, were prosperous, and foot-loose musicians wanted to 
get into them. Onto the minstrel stage all of the wit of the 
hour was concentrated, and here all of the good jokes were 
first cracked. Here was a cash market for witticisms and little 
short, catchy monologues. And here appeared, sung by the 
finest voices in the land, the many beautiful songs of that 
olden time. The populace, not then being diseased with opera, 



I HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 61 

swarmed to hear them and to profoundly enjoy them. Hence, 
in the rea'm of stage music "black face" reigned supreme. 
Sometimes two strolling bands struck our town the same night. 
They were easily and cheaply accommodated : the court-house, 
a big church, a public hall, or a large warehouse, could be fixed 
up to answer a requisition in two hours. The popular price 
was, ''Admission 25 cents; infants in arms, $1." Every town 
had a band of boyish ainateurs. I remember that one day our 
town was billed by a "colossal aggregation" of minstrel talent; 
everybody went, but it was finally discovered to be a deftly 
concealed "aggregation" of home talent. 

One can readily see on reflection, when one comes to look at 
it, what the result of Negro Minstrelsy would be. Here would 
be a group of men blacked up as darkies and saying the brightest 
and wittiest things that were said in the community. Here 
would be a desire to please the community with the choicest 
satire. There was never a better field. Sambo on the stage 
always had something bright to say to the mate on the steam- 
boat, and the aristocratic slaveholder was always enjoying words 
of wisdom from his colored valet. And the songs, — there were 
hundreds. The Thirteenth Amendment has wiped them out. 
The Suwanee River, My Old Kentucky Home, The Yellow Rose 
of Texas, Massa's in the Cold, Cold Ground, Nicodenms, and 
a few others, survive. One song-writer was said to have writ- 
ten four hundred, but they are about all gone. The Emanci- 
pation Proclamation made them, as far as sentiment goes, as 
inappropriate and uninteresting as if they had been written of 



62 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

the Chinese. But in that chiy there were perhaps a half-mill- 
ion people every night listening to the very finest singing and 
instrumental music, where the fun of the community was cen- 
tered, and where the slave was depicted as a loyal friend of his 
master, as a devoted and faithful lover, as a person deeply at- 
tached to his fireside and his home, as a tender-hearted mourner 
for the departed, and a fountain of spontaneous wit, humor and 
philosophy. The great era of this was from 1850 to 1860. No 
wonder that the North rose up and demanded that the African 
should be set free and allowed to vote. They knew of him prin- 
cipally through Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Negro Minstrel. 
In the slave States the Minstrel did not flourish so ostentatiously, 
and the witticisms were more adapted to the condition of things. 
I remember once in St. Louis to have attended one that had 
an entirely different flavor, in which "Sambo" came out with 
a banjo and sang a song of which the refrain is all I can now re- 
member. It was, "A nigger wifl be nigger, — that's my phil- 
osophee." The North was fooled, — no, not that, — misinformed. 
The Negro was not what we thought he was. But slavery had 
to be wiped out for the benefit of both races, and because it 
was an obstacle to the rise and dignity and onward march of 
free white labor. The greatest labor movement that ever took 
place on the globe was 'soon to begin. 



CHAPTER 7. 

Iowa Sovereignty. — Zouave ITniform. — Constant Drilling. — Swimming. — 
Campaign of 1860. — The Little Giants. — ^Wide-Awakes. — Parades and 
Fights. — Lamp-Posts. — Death to Traitors. — The Armory. — The "Jour" 
Cigar-Maker. — Fort Sumter. — Zouaves Organized. — Tender of Services. 
— The Billiard Saloon. — On the Roster. — Grandfather. — Attitude of 
Parents. — Advice of Mother.^The Patriotic Sermon. — The German 
Company. — The Irish Company. — Acceptance of Company. — -Beginning 
of Company "E." 

The Flight of John Brown from Kansas, and the Kansas 
troubles, l)rought about a strange theory of State sovereignty. 
Several Iowa citizens had been mistreated in Kansas, and the 
question was boldly proposed that Iowa being a sovereign State 
had the same right to protect her citizens abroad that any sov- 
ereignty of Europe had ; and hence the proper thing for Iowa to 
do was to march a brigade of her citizens into Kansas and pro- 
tect every Iowa citizen on that soil; and if they could not do 
it any other way, to whip any soldiers, whether Kansas or Fed- 
eral, that might stand in the way. This was the Iowa idea 
promulgated by Governor Grimes. 

Our little "Abolition company" of militia, as it grew older, 

grew more proficient, and there was elected to its captaincy, 

in an honorary way, a brave old Swede. He had served in the 

wars of Europe, had been through the Mexican War, and had 

won shoulder-straps in Mexico. He was afterwards killed as 

a colonel in the Civil War, — a little, round, bullet-headed, brave, 

kind-hearted Swede. 

(63) 



64 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

The French wars of Africa had brought forward a new tj^pe 
of soldier called the ''Zouave." Our Swedish captain wanted us 
to become Zouaves ; so w^e all bought Zouave uniforms, — leather 
leggings, red flannel baggy trousers, a light-blue woolen shirt, 
and a bob-tailed, dark-blue cloth jacket that was more like a 
vest than a jacket, because it could not be buttoned up except 
at the top button, and it ran away to the back, with rows of 
round brass buttons. A little gold braid was put on and a 
jaunty cap with a gold band. A handsomer body of young men 
could not have been found than the ''Zouaves." We drilled 
by the bugle. Our skirmish drills and our ornamental drills 
were very catching. Whenever we drilled we had plenty of 
spectators. Our spectators were our relatives and our sweet- 
hearts and their friends, who were anti-slavery as a rule. We 
received muskets from the State. We supplied ourselves with 
cartridges and drilled in all sorts of firing. Our file and vol- 
ley fire were considered to be very fine and perfect perform- 
ances. When we marched through the streets, as we did on 
all holidays or gala-days, and sometimes on political occasions, 
the old habit of throwing macadam at us ceased. We camped 
in our armory a great deal. The theory of it was that we must 
be toughened, that is what the captain said ; so we would go up 
in the armory and sleep all night on the bare floor with our 
heads on our cartridge-boxes, because the captain said that that 
was the way that soldiers did. Then we had a regular German 
Turners' outfit of physical apparatus, and we had fencing with 
the bayonet and with foils. Our bayonet fencing was carried 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 65 

on very scientifically, and became a fad. A man turned up 
who showed an honorable, discharge from a British cavalry 
regiment, and he would saber against the bayonets. It used 
to be one of our pet things, to do after supper, to go down to 
the armory and fence with bayonets and sleep on the hard floor, 
and then in the morning have reveille at five o'clock, stack arms, 
and all go home for breakfast. 

The number of men in our Zouave company I do not now 
remember, but as I would now say we had a permanent or- 
ganization of at least sixty, and every man was supposed to be 
a swimmer, and if he could not swim he must immediately 
learn to swim. The captain of the company said that every- 
body in his company would have to be able to swim the Mis- 
sissippi river. The river at this point was half a mile wide. 
If there was a member of that company who did not swim or 
had not swum the Mississippi river, I do not now recollect it. 
I have swum the Mississippi river several times in company 
with a platoon of the boj^s, accompanied by a skiff. 

We were called upon a great deal to go out and give fancy 
drills and exhibitions in neighboring towns, and our drilling, 
uniform, and new Zouave tactics attracted a good deal of at- 
tention. One day there came to our town a young man by the 
name of Rice, who said that he belonged to the Ellsworth Zou- 
aves, that was then one of the fancy regiments of the United 
States. This is the Ellsworth who was killed at Alexandria, Va. 
Rice stayed with us and drilled us every night for about a week, 
and praised us very highly; and although he did not know 



66 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

much about it himself, he pronounced us "ready for the field." 
As I will hereafter show, we got there, and he was right. 

Matters in a political way seemed to grow from bad to worse 
until the Presidential nomination of 1860. Everything seemed 
to lag; money became scarce, work became scarce, everybody 
had gloomy forebodings, and the Democratic party broke up 
into several organizations: one party was called the "Fiie- 
caters," and was a distinct Southern organization; another was 
called the "Peace Party." There were several prominent men 
in our town who were called "Fire- caters." Stephen A. Doug- 
las was a Presidential nominee, and as he had been called a little 
giant, his followers were called "Giants." 

The "Wide- Awakes" were organized with a military drill. 
Among the Democrats in my part of Iowa, the Douglas sentiment 
was overwhelmingly predominant. The Wide-Awakes as an 
organization greatly increased in numbers and proficiency of 
drill. The Democrats adopted a plaid uniform, or rather a 
Scotch uniform, as the marching uniform of their political clubs. 
They spoke of themselves as the "Douglas clan," and called 
themselves "Little Giants." We called them "Little Joints," 
and either the "Wide-Awakes" or the "Little Joints" were 
promenading on the streets, about all the time, and fighting 
considerably in the mean time. Political excitement was very 
high and something was constantly happening. Our Zouave 
company was the heart of the " Wide-Awake" organization. It 
was impossible to have a political parade without a fight. Sev- 
eral of my chums in the Zouaves belonged to the fire company; 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 67 

SO when we paraded, before we fell into the parade we went 
around to the hose-house and put on belts with hose-spanners. 
The hose-spanner, as then made, for coupling hose, had a crook 
at one end and about eighteen inches of iron handle, and was an 
excellent thing to hold onto while pounding somebody. Those 
of us who had spanners under our uniforms marched near each 
other, and whenever a brick or a rock was hurled into our pro- 
cession, we made a bold dash with our spanners into the crowd 
for the offender, and we often hurt somebody. 

The anti-slavery sentiment was gaining ground. Many peo- 
ple, dissatisfied with the condition of public sentiment, moved 
South. The sentiment that one Southern man could whip five 
Yankees was not only prevalent but was constantly flaunted at 
us by Southern sympathizers, and it provoked a constant chal- 
lenge. If I should now estimate the condition of the community 
where I lived in the summer of 1860 I would say that two-thirds 
of them had become anti-slavery and one-third were violent 
sympathizers with Southern sentiment, and appeared to be full 
of fight. 

After the Very Heated Election was over antl Mr. Lincoln 
was known to be elected, a citizen of our town who was a South- 
ern man had come out and declaretl that the South must now 
secede from the Union. Two other young men and I deter- 
mined to express our views in a somewhat positive way. We 
got some rope, made a dozen halters with a hangman's noose, 
wrote out on placards, "Death to Traitors and Secessionists," 
and started out after supper to hang them up on the few lamp- 



68 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

poHt.s in our little city. Wc had got almost througii when a l)ig, 
brawny fellow, who said he was from Kentucky, with a party, 
commenced taking them off from the lamp-posts, and of course 
a fight ensued ; but the battle was against us, because we were 
held at bay while his assistants robbed most of the lamp-posts 
of the nooses. We had not calculated on so much resistance, but 
it produced a great deal of furor among us boys, and the ques- 
tion began to be agitated whether any person had not really 
deserved to be hung if he were in favor of secession. In a short 
time after that, it was noised about that there was an armed 
band of a hundred Southern men in our county who were ready to 
march South and offer their services to the South in case of war. 
Perhaps this was only a menace at that time, but collisions in 
the street became very frec^uent among the young fellows. 

It became apparent that war was inevitable. New men 
wanted to join the Zouaves, and in a short time we had more 
than we could take care of, and I was one who was appointed 
as a drill-master of new recruits. 

During the winter of 1860, it thus happened that I was down 
at the armory after supper, drilling constantly with new recruits 
who came in and wanted to join the Zouaves. 

It is not necessary for me in this narration to repeat what is 
well known of the history of the United States. I only endeavor 
to give that portion of private detail which the historian must 
omit. Hence I will not refer to the heated condition of the 
country at large, to the various acts of secession, to what took 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 69 



place in Washington; nor will I refer to the attitude of Ken- 
tucky and Missouri. 

By the time spring opened there had been drilled in the Zouave 
armory, which was the fourth story of a large store building, 
about two hundred men. The cannons were being placed in 
situation to bombard Fort Sumter. Our Swedish commander 
had been taken violently ill, and was thought to be unable to 
recover. A young man had joined our company wdio was a good 
drill-master. He had belonged, so he said, to a Zouave company 
in Baltimore, and was a "jour" cigar-maker. He falsely claimed 
to have served five years in the regular army. He was an at- 
tractive fellow, and being a young man of very military bearing, 
and of enthusiastic nature, he soon became a favorite in our 
company. Among the friends of our company was a young 
doctor who had served through the Mexican War as a non-com- 
missioned officer, and it was said he had shown great bravery at 
Buena Vista and at Palo Alto. He was a very pronounced anti- 
slavery man, and often came down to see us drill and to talk 
with the boys. 

All at once the gun fired on Fort Sumter. The telegraphic 
dispatches were bulletined in the city as to all the minutiae of the 
transaction. First, that the gun was being brought into posi- 
tion; next, that a certain officer had ordered the gun ,0 be 
loaded; then in a little while came the telegram that a certain 
officer was sighting the gun upon tlie flag at Fort Sumter. Busi- 
ness was all suspended. Everybody was in the streets. Every- 
body was asking, "What will happen next?" The Zouaves 



70 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

were in their armory, which was packod. The first thing to do 
was to telegraph the governor, offering him the services of our 
company. To do this a provisional organization must hastily 
be made. The Baltimore cigar-maker was instantly selected 
as captain. The doctor from Buena Vista and Palo Alto was 
elected first lieutenant , and one of the new men of our company 
whose parents were prominent people was elected second lieu- 
tenant, with the understanding that the sergeants and corporals 
would be elected as soon as possible. 

A telegram was sent to the Governor immediately, offering 
him the company. The Governor promptly accepted it, and 
called the company "E," which was supposed at that time to be 
the company that would carry the colors. In fact, other com- 
panies had offered their services before the firing on Fort Sum- 
ter. Now the question was, who should get into Company "E." 
There were so many in the company older and stronger than I 
that I went home that night with a very heavy heart, feeling that 
I was not going to get into the company and I was not going to 
get to see any of the trouble. I was past nineteen, but not yet 
twenty. We could not have half of the boys in the company 
who wanted to go, and I immediately began to work all the tac- 
tics and politics and other things which I had or knew of to 
get in. 

One of the principal athletic exercises at our armory was box- 
ing. It was all in fun, but it was quite earnest boxing. Gloves 
were used but little, although there were two pairs there. The 
boys stood up toe to toe on the floor, and the best man won. 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 71 

Sometimes the boxing degenerated into a veritable encounter 
and somebody got hurt, but the wounds were slight and quickly 
healed, and the parties thereafter imderstood their mutual re- 
lations to each other. The armory was a good deal like a barn- 
yard, where it was necessary for each of the roosters to know who 
was who. Hence the members of the Zouaves were really quite 
"scientific," although the German military company, with its 
Turner society, was undoubtedly more generally perfect in all- 
around gymnastics. 

In fact, I do not think that I would have got into the company 
had it not been for a fortunate accident. I was hunting our new 
superior, the Baltimore cigar-maker, one evening, to impress 
upon him the necessity of having me in the company. He was 
in a billiard saloon. I went in to find him. I was somewhat 
unacquainted with such places, and I looked around perhaps a 
little awkwardly. I had on my Zouave cap. A man came up 
to me and began talking about Yankees, and said that they 
would not fight and that one Southern man could whip five of 
them any time or anywhere, and that he was from Kentucky. 
This, of course, required immediate attention on my part, and 
although he was larger than I, I was the more scientific, and in 
addition to that, I had the advantages described by Josh Bil- 
lings: "Thrice armed is he who has his quarrel just, and four 
times he who gets his work in fust." I laid him out in short 
order, much to my surprise. He arose, rallied, and I laid him 
out in such a way that he was gathered up and taken off l)y two 
friends, over the necks of whom he had an arm and they around 



72 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

his waist. It hap]3ened that my suijerior officer really was in the 
saloon, although I did not see him, for I was told that I had better 
get out or I might be arrested, and I went home. The next day 
the Baltimore cigar-maker came around and told my father with 
glowing pride and eulogium how I had knocked the fellow in the 
billiard hall. My pious old father with great anguish recited 
the stoiy to me, and gave me much advice about visiting such 
places and being engaged in bar-room brawls. He called uj) our 
old Puritanic ancestry, and he seemed to feel remarkably l^ad ; 
but the occurrence fixed me up all right for the Zouave company. 
The day after the firing on Fort Sumter my mother desired 
me to spade \\\> a little patch of ground where she wished to set 
out some flowers. My old grandfather came along, leaning on 
the fence and askc^d, "What are you trying to do?" I said: ''I 
am learning to throw up earthworks. What do you think of the 
prospect of war ? ' ' He said : "I have been expecting it for twenty 
years. The country is all gone to smash. The Constitution is 
of no use any more. We are going to all fall to pieces and all go 
to fighting; the North against the South, and the East against 
the West. The Government which old General George Wash- 
ington guv us is all busted to pieces. There never will be any 
more such good times as there used to be. About ever5^body's 
going to get killed unless something stops it, and I don't see 
what there is that can stoj:) it. It is State against State, and it 
will be family against family and man against man. I don't 
never expect to live to see the end of it. It used to be a great 
thing to JDe an American citizen, but we won't be anywhere now." 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 73 

I said to him : "I oxpoct I will be in the war. Nol)ody seems to 
think it will last long; some say it won't last over ninety days." 
My old grandfather said : "Oh, ninety days ain't no time. You 
can't get ready in ninety days; but," he said, ''I guess you might 
as well go as anybody. War is a great school. It is a mighty 
good school, or it is a mighty bad school, according to the way 
you take it." My old grandfather had for years been a great 
pessimist, but during his early years he had been in the army 
himself, and although he deprecated war he seemed to think 
that if properly used the army was a great school. 

When I found out that I had been selected as one to go to the 
war in the Zouave company my happiness knew no bounds. My 
sister was very proud of it, and her many young lady friends 
congratulated me. I felt that I might become a favorite, and 
might ultimately be considered by the young ladies generally as 
being a good deal of a fellow. Soon afterwards when the roster 
was made up and my name called and I stood in line, it was, to 
use a very commonplace observation, but truthfully so, the hap- 
piest day of my life, and those who WTre successful all felt similar 
elation. As we all had to undergo a very severe physical ex- 
amination from the United States authorities, the company chose 
a dozen supernumeraries, good fellows, whom we wanted to be 
with us and who should go with us to take any vacant place 
which might be opened in the ranks. Cash was frequently of- 
fered by outsiders for a place as private soldier in the company. 

AVhen I announced to my parents that I had been accepted 



74 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

in the Zouaves, things seemed to change with them. The cap- 
tain of the company really did not want to take anybody that 
was under twenty-one. He said he wasn't going to have any 
"veal" in his company. That was the reason that I at nine- 
teen hardly thought I was going to get in. In adtlition to not 
wanting any '' veal " in the company, there were Southern people, 
pro-slavery people, who said that any persons who let their boys 
go into the service did so willingly, because they could get out 
any bo}^ by habeas corpus who enlisted. There was a constant 
stream of secession talk in Northern newspapers, and a constant 
iteration of the fact that any parent could take any boy out of 
the army, under twenty-one. That was what made it hard for 
me to get in, and the question with me was whether or not my 
parents W'ould take me out on habeas corpus. ]\Iy father's de- 
meanor changed a very great deal when he found that I was in. 
He was not half as profoundly stirred up over slavery as he had 
been before. I was his only grown son. My mother took a very 
sensible view of things. She cried some, but said that if I wanted 
to go I ought to go. She said that I must write her every week 
if I went, and she very sensibly said, "Now you want to be care- 
ful and not do anything that would make you ashamed to come 
back;" and she said: "Don't you go to drinking whisky and go 
to swearing and getting to be tough. Be sure and write to me 
every week, and don't you have me worrying about you." 

My mother was in many respects a most remarkable woman. 
I never knew her to lose her temper. She was a great reader, 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 75 

and luid moro friends than any woman I over know, and she was 
full of the philosoi)hy of life, and used to say: "Never look back. 
Don't worry over things you cannot help. Do your best, and 
let the balance go." 

As soon as our company had been organized, wx' who were uni- 
foi"med were marched down to a church where a sermon was to 
be preached to the Zouaves. About half of us still wore our 
Zouave uniforms. I shall never forget that sermon. I do not 
remember the name of the minister. He was a little, short, heavy, 
acrobatic sort of preacher who pranced all over the platform. 
He seemed to have taken Stephen A. Douglas as his model, al- 
though he outdid him in gyrations considerably. He told us 
that, if we were called upon, we nuist uphold the country and the 
flag, and he made the distinct statement that the Lord Almighty 
had organized the United States for the purpose of keeping out 
kings and kingdoms ; that the great curse of the world was kings 
and kingdoms, and that this government was the only means by 
which the kings and kingdoms could be got out of existence. It 
was to be a beacon-light in the world, and if we lost our lives in 
the supporting of the government we would go right straight to 
Heaven as soon as we were killed. I remember what a very 
assuring effect that had. I was beginning to have a little doubt 
upon the subject at that time, but the sermon seemed as if it 
had been prepared in a very sensible, scientific, patriotic and 
politic way to give the boys enthusiasm. It was without doubt 
all prearranged, although we did not then understand it. At 



76 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

any rate, the sermon had a very fine effect, and as the church 
was large, and all the girls in town were there, the boys marched 
out very pompously and felt that they were going either down to 
the tropics or to Heaven, and it was safe either way. 

Scarcely had the Zouave company tendered their services 
to the governor, than, lo! and behold, it transpired that the 
German company in our city had tendered theirs two months 
before. They had been organized by themselves. It was a 
surprise to outsiders, but they in their armory and Turner 
lodges had been discussing the matter secretly, and it seemed 
that they had kept themselves in toucli with everything. They 
got ahead of us. The German company was organized under 
an old German officer as captain; not a very old man, either, 
but I may say here one of the best men and one of the bravest 
officers I ever knew. He became a brigadier in the Civil War, 
and was idolized by everybody who knew him. He was a 
thorough lover of liberty, a brave and capable man. So that 
from our little town two companies went who rivaled each 
other, and I may say that two hundred better men in physique 
and general capability never were organized. Every trade 
that could be mentioned, almost, was represented in those two 
companies. The Irish militia company all at once disappeared 
from view; I do not think that it ever met any more. Their 
sentiments at that time were in antagonism to that of the two 
companies referred to, but it is just to say that all of those, 
perhaps every one of them, of the Irish militia company that 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 77 

was capable of admission to the service, ultimately joined. I 
remember several of them afterwards; one of whom, a young 
man for whom I had a great liking, was shot through the chest 
with an ounce Imll at Shiloh, and recovered to live many years 
thereafter. 

This brings us up to the period of the acceptance of our serv- 
ices, and is really the beginning of the history of Company "E." 



CHAPTER 8. 

State Acceptance— Ai)ril 20th.— Music of the Union.— The Girls.— The 
Uniform. — The Embarkation. — The Rendezvou.s. — Keokuk. — The Va- 
cant Hotel. — The Saloon. — Our Muskets. — Regimental Camp. — Prac- 
tice. — The Recoil. — The Silver Dimes. — Secession Sentiment. — Chickens. 
— Corporal Bill. — Balls. — Cotillions.- — Dances. 

On April 20, 1861, our company was completely organized, 
and the State went through the process of accepting us. Then 
we were sul3ject to State pay — seven dollars per month — and 
our enlistment for three months began to run. Our time would 
thus expire July 20th. Before wc were accepted a couple of 
our men changed their views and politics, and became "sccesh" 
and would not go in. It was not to be wondered at that under 
steady disloyal persuasion a young man here and there should 
3"ield. There were hundreds of open secessionists and liundreds 
of "Southern symj^athizers," and the}' were all at work doing 
what they could to tie the hands of the North and of the soldiers 
of the Union. They shouted loudly, ''No coercion!" But, 
for the two who went out there were others who wanted in — 
young men who had no faint hearts. On one occasion when 
we were in line a young man from the outside, who was a stran- 
ger, walked up to our line and offered one of the boys of the com- 
pany a twenty-dollar gold-piece if the latter would step out and 
let him in the place. The recruit handed the gold-piece back 
and said, "I would see you in hell further than a pigeon could 
fly in a week." 

(78) 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 79 

Choate, in 1855, had invented the phrase, "Keep step to the 
music of the Union." The expression was now everywhere 
and all the time quoted, and the new soldiers whenever they 
marched felt that they were keeping step to the music of the 
Union. 

And the girls, — the Lord bless them, — they were many and 
beautiful, for they were our sisters and our sweethearts. We 
had lots of each. Only about one-half of our company had 
uniforms, and being Zouave uniforms they were pronounced 
by our Mexican War veteran critics as unfit. The Government 
had no uniforms to give us, so the girls, organized as a society, 
undertook the job of making an outfit, and they had to make 
it the way they wanted it. They had to have some art and 
some style put into it so that w^e would be adorned as well as 
uniformed. They got up our uniforms. The coat, as made, 
was a hunting-frock of the pioneer Daniel Boone type, fitting 
closely at the neck, cuff and belt, but full of surplusage every- 
where else. It was made of a fluffy, fuzzy, open-woven, azure- 
gray cloth, the like of which I had never seen before and have 
never seen since. The cuff, collar and a band up and down the 
breast WTre flannel of a beautiful Venetian red, insuring a good 
target. Trowsers of a heavy buckskin type and color. Black 
felt hunting-hat, with a brilHant red-ribbon cockade. The 
word "dude" had not then been invented. 

When we were in our uniform our company was probably the 
prettiest-looking lot of young men who ever stood up in a row. 
When we afterwards got into the field our oflficcrs made us tear 



80 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

off the rod trimmings because they were too conspicuous. The 
uniform went to pieces very fast under hard usage; but the 
girls had made it, we w^re proud to wear it, it was all we had, 
and in fact all we wanted. We now began looking for the 
foe; "the foe" was what we were after. 

Orders came to go to Keokuk as the place of rendezvous. 
We had been drilling constantly day and night. Officers had 
been giving the non-commissioned officers teaching, in class, 
every day; and the company believed it was ready for the 
battle-field. So on the afternoon of May 7, 1861, we marched 
down the street to the steamboat, "Kate Cassel." The fife 
and drum played "The Girl I Left Behind Me," and a packed 
mob on each side of the street was either cheering or scoffing. 
The crowd was with us mostly, but there were gangs who were 
not, and some yelled "Rats!" and "Abolition!" and other 
hostile slang. The company came near going to pieces more 
than once during the march, with a desire to capture and pun- 
ish some one. But the officers said, "Steady," "Steady," 
and we kept in ranks. The girls were all out, cheering and 
waving parasols, and it made the occasion a great one for us. 
Each man had a carpet-sack in which, besides a lot of other 
things, were some neckties, and a shaving-mug, and a Bible, 
and some home-made socks, and some photographs, and a lot 
of some other things which the girls had loaded him up with. 
Statesmen control the destinies of nations during i^eace — the 
girls during war. 

Before the march to the steamboat, one evening at a party, 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 81 

a young lady turned from the piano and said to me, "You are 
not going to go and fight for old Ape Lincoln, are you?" To 
substitute Ape for Abe was one of the witticisms of the day, 
and I have heard more than one public speaker say that one 
look at the ''ugly old rail-splitter" would convince any man 
that "Ape" was the right name. The young lady above re- 
ferred to, after the war, although of Southern birth, married a 
Union soldier, and as his widow is now, at the time this is writ- 
ten, living off his pension. 

The march down to the steamboat was a promise and a 
prophecy. No three-months soldiers of the war had as peril- 
ous, toilsome and distressful time. None came out with a 
better reputation, as we shall see. 

Down on the steamboat we sang, "Dixie" — the original 

"Dixie." It was as follows: 

I wish I was in de land ob cotton, 
Cinnamon seed and sandy bottom; 

Look away! Looli away! Look away! 
In Dixie land where I was born in, 
Early on a frosty mornin' ; 

Look away! Look away! Look away! 
Den I wish I was in Dixie, 

Hooray! Hooray! 
In Dixie land I'll take my stand, 
To lib and die in Dixie, 

Away ! Away ! 
Away down South in Dixie! 

Old missus marry " Will-de-weaber," 
Willium was a gay deceaber; 

Look away! Look away! Look away! 
But when he put him arm around 'er. 
He smiled as fierce as a forty-pounder; 

Look away! Look away! Look away! 



82 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

His face was as sharp as a butcher's cleaber, 
But dat ting did not seem to grcab 'er: 

Look away! Look away! Look away! 
Old missus acted de foolish part, 
And died for a man dat broke her heart; 

Look away! Look away! Look away! 

Now here's a health to de next old missus, 
And all de gals dat wants to kiss us ; 

Look away! Look away! Look away! 
But if you want to drive away sorrow. 
Come and hear dis song tomorrow; 

Look away! Look away! Look away! 

Dar's buckwheat cakes and Injen batter, 
Makes you fat and a little fatter; 

Look away! Look away! Look away! 
Den hoe it down and scratch de grabble. 
To Dixie's land I'm bound to trabble; 

Look away! Look awaj'^! Look away! 

The rendezvous of our regiment was fixed at Keokuk, Iowa, 
and thither we w^ent, by steamboat. We had left our guns 
back in the armory for a new set of boys to take charge of and 
hold the town. The "secesh" were numerous and bitter, 
rumors of a raid from Missouri w^re rife, and there was much 
apprehension that some moimted gang might make a foray, 
or that some gang of incendiaries might burn the town, or at 
least do violence to some prominent Abolitionist or "war Re- 
publican," or to his property. Nor were the apprehensions 
without basis; these injuries were done; men were assaulted 
at night and buildings and property fired. The boys whom 
we left behind had considerable to do; they worked all day 
and did guard duty at night without pay, but it made soldiers 
out of them very rapidly. They soon followTd us to the field. 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 83 

When our boat arrived at Keokuk we org-anized on The levee, 
calletl the roll and counted off. While this was going on the 
])eople on the steamboats at the wharf hooted and jeered at us. 
Several steamboats were there, and their crews and passengers 
numbered hundreds, and they all seemed to be "secesh." We 
were unarmed and under the circumstances helpless, so we said 
nothing and laid it up against them. It became impressed 
upon us afterwards that anybody connected with a steamboat 
was, ipso facto, a "rebel." Our experience on the Keokuk wharf 
was exceedingly galling, and we had no way of fighting back 
without acting unsoldierly. Our First Lieutenant, of the Mex- 
ican War, had drunmied and drilled and ground it into us that 
on all occasions and under all circumstances we must act "sol- 
dierly." It transpired that by the time we reached the regi- 
mental rendezvous we all and each had a bad case of swell- 
head, in supposing ourselves "soldierly." 

We marched up the street to the tune of "The Girl I Left 
Behind Me." This was our favorite tune, and it was no joke. 
The streets were, thronged, and the cheering and the hooting 
were about equally divided. The hooters were unfriendly, 
and were generally at windows and upon roofs; we evened up 
with some of them afterwards. 

The city of Keokuk at the time of which I speak was the 
victim of arrested development. It had been wonderfully 
l)oomed and overljuilt. The development of the locomotive 
had killed the town. River navigation had in the prior years 
been deemed so important that the Government had spent 



84 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

millions in putting dams and locks into the Des Moines river, 
and, as the rival of St. Louis and Chicago, great sums had been 
spent there in ground-lots and buildings with the hope and under 
the hallucination that Keokuk would be the greatest city on 
the Mississippi river. The town site projected down near Mis- 
souri, from which it was necessary that the town should be now 
guarded, and therefore it' was made the place of State ren- 
dezvous. We were marched up the principal street and up into 
the third story of a large vacant brick building. This was 
on May 7, 1861. Boards were put up on the floor eight feet 
from the wall and the inclosure filled with hay, and each man 
was given a pair of blankets. The athletic drilling of the 
company and its sturdy, even marching up and down the 
stairs, soon made mischief for the building, and it cracked from 
top to bottom, and in a few days we were moved down to one 
of the big vacant hotels of the town. The evening before we 
moved one of our men who went into a saloon to get a drink 
was ''doped." We thought he had developed a case of "de- 
lirium tremens." He slept on the floor in the hay next to me, 
and I put in almost all of the night holding him down, with 
assistance from others. He was very strong, and wore me out ; 
he was crazy; the boys kept putting cold water on his head, 
and in the morning he was able to talk some. Corporal Churu- 
busco (of whom I shall speak more hereafter) l^egan to under- 
stand the situation, antl went down -town and inquired into 
the loyalty of the saloon-keeper and found it badly "Secesh," 
and thereupon a detachment of us went do\^'n and tried to find 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 85 

the man at his saloon. Ho was not in, so we smashed up every- 
thing, broke out all of the doors and windows, and posted up a 
reward of $1000 for his arrest. The incident taught us to be 
careful, and we did our drinking in saloons kept by Germans; 
they were always square and loyal. AMien I say ''our drink- 
ing" I mean the company. I mostly kept out, and there was 
in fact but little of it done by our company. 

We were armetl the day after we moved into the vacant hotel. 
I always enjoy the recollection of the musket which I got. 
What became of it will be told a good ways further on. It was 
an old-fashioned, long, big, heavy, sturdy weapon, and nothing 
could out-kick it but a Government mule. The musket bore 
the stamp of "U. S. 1829," and had been a flint-lock altered 
over into a percussion. Our whole regiment was armed with 
these old-fashioned guns. They had been gathered up, of dif- 
ferent years of construction, cleaned out, the flint-lock hole in 
the side of the barrel filled with brass, a percussion-cap fixture 
set on, and an old-fashioned bayonet fitted to it. It shows 
what the condition of our Government was at that time. The 
treason that the Southern oligarchy had for years been planning, 
had filled the Southern arsenals and shipyards with the best, 
and had given the South a running start in the game of war. 
And they held it for a while ; should have held it longer. These 
muskets of ours were heavier and different from the guns we 
had practiced with. We were immediately started at drilling 
with the new ones, — "Load in nine times — Load." In our com- 
pany drill and marching we were drilled on the double-quick 



86 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

theory; that is, every movenieiit was on the run, and running 
and carrying that musket was a good deal of work. Never- 
theless we drilled three hours in the morning and three hours 
in the afternoon, carrying those muskets, and it broke down 
several of our men, so that they had to be dropped. We were 
drilled running all over the country, jumping ditches and climb- 
ing fences. One day in jumping a ditch one of our best boys 
could not quite make it with the gun, and he strained himself 
so that he was taken to the hospital, where he died. Although 
the drill was hard, it was exciting. There were many humor- 
ous accidents, and the boys got hardened up into whalebone. 
But we had not yet been accepted by the United States. 

The regiment finally, as to all of the companies, arrived in 
Keokuk, and we all went into camp upon the plateau above 
the town overlooking the Mississippi river. Here we drilled 
regimental drill unceasingly. Here we drew a lot of ammu- 
nition, blank cartridges and "buck and ball," and practiced a 
little shooting. "Buck and ball" meant one large round ball 
and three large buckshot in one cartridge. The guns had no 
rear sight, only a notch, and we had to tinker them and change 
the front sight so as to get an approximation. The guns which 
the "Secesh" had, new Springfield muskets, were rifled and hatl 
fine sights and could be adjusted for tlistances. Ours could not 
be adjusted and were smooth-bore, and we could not make them 
shoot straight. But we understood guns and could get as close 
to it as anybody could, or as the gun itself could be made to go. 
Corporal Churubusco had been in the Mexican War and knew 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 87 

all about war, as he said, ami we supposed. Drill, e(iuii)iMeiit 
and logistics were his constant themes, and we hung upon his 
precepts for weeks, even until we got into the field and found 
out how little he knew. Well, Corporal Churubusco said that 
what made a gun kick, — was what every old Mexican soldier 
knew, — there was space in the barrel behind the touchhole, — 
that the fire from the cap went into the barrel too far forward. 
We then proceeded to fill in the barrel at the bottom, according 
to his suggestions. A silver dime just fitted the barrel, but silver 
dimes had disappeared from circulation. Nevertheless, I man- 
aged to get one and then another and then another, until I 
had rammed down six of them. But the gun kicked apparently 
as hard as ever, and then I wanted the silver out, — that is, I 
wanted my money back, — but that was an impossibility: the 
discharges had swaged the silver down and brazed it to the bar- 
rel. The gun continued to kick like ''sixty," (the number of 
cents which I had rammed down.) We all named our guns; 
the boys generally named them after their pet girls, — it was 
"Hannah," or ''Mary Jane," or something else. I named mine 
"Silver Sue." 

The Secession Sentiment in Keokuk was open and appar- 
ently defiant, and as the boys were all spoiling for a fight they 
put in their odds and ends of time going to town and picking 
fights with people of that sentiment. I remember a groceryman 
who was very bitter, and three of the boys hired a speedy wagon 
and went down to his store and picked up a large crate of live 
chickens, loaded it in and drove off. Another prominent citizen 



88 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

was very disloyal and bitter; the boys got a U. S. flag and pole 
and a ladder and tixed the flag upon the top of his house. The 
owner said that he would tear "The damned thing" down; the 
boys said that then they would tear his "damned" house down. 
As a fact, the "Secesh" element showed a vicious hatred to the 
flag. The ciuestion which then puzzled us was why a flag of 
Virginian origin should be so hated by Virginians just because 
they did not like somebody. A Keokuk weekly paper one day 
had a badly disloyal editorial, and a tletailed statement of the 
preparations the South had, and was making, to go to war, 
and how well prepared they were. The editor was hunting 
trouble, and some of the boys gave it to him. 

The Southern States were ready and fully prepared for war. 
They were boastful and arrogant. They expected and intended 
to succeed. It is strange they did not. Northern "Copper- 
head" papers were filled with laudation of the South, its valor 
and readiness, — and threw or tried to throw a scare into the 
Northern public every day of the week. 

The Mobile Advertiser said, on the 24th of April, 1861 : 

"There are now, as nearly as can be estimated, upwards of 
100,000 organized and armed men in the seven Confederate 
States, under orders or anxiously awaiting them, to spring to 
the post of tlanger at the word of Jefferson Davis. Within eight 
days' time, at the farthest, he can concentrate 60,000 of these 
men — ^the best soldiers in the world — at any point on the North- 
ern border, and hurl this splendid army like an avalanche upon 
the foe. If the battle-ground be in Virginia or Maryland, as 
it ])robably will, the grand army of the Confederacy will be 
tloubled or trebled by the rallying hosts of those States. We 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 89 

have reason to believe that himch-eds of companies are now on 
the move, or will be within twenty-four hours, — all bound some- 
where." 

There was a very violent Southern sympathizer who lived 
about one mile from camp, whose name I will call Robb; the 
bOys were talking about what they would or ought to do with 
hi^i. One evening I was on guard around the camp a})out five 
hui\dred feet from the nearest tent, and on the edge of some 
woods. About one o'clock in the morning while I was walking 
a lonesome beat I heard a noise in the woods, and kneeling 
down behind a bush I watched and waited. It was very dark, 
and a big form came up towards where I was. I rose and put 
a bayonet up in front of a man with a big l^undle on his back. 
It was Corporal Churubusco with a blanket wrapping up seven- 
teen chickens, mostly old hens. He wanted to go through; 
he pleadel; he said he had been out to visit "Old Robb," and 
had killed two dogs and taken every chicken in the henhouse. 
I held him up and called the ''Corporal of the guard." At 
the guard-hjuse they allowed him three. My relations after 
that with th<? Corporal were very nuich strained, until a rough- 
and-tumble event occurred in which the corporal came out second 
best, and aftet that he got along with me better. The history 
of, my company is the history of each company at Keokuk. 
Every company had its l)est man, its best wrestler, its best 
runner, its champion. Our company had the b(^st boxer, who 
in turn was also about the best wrestler; he was a Hercules, 
a machinist from a foundry. He was a good-natured, pleasant 



90 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

fellow, but a terrible man in a fist fight. He was a corporal, 
and we called him "Corporal Bill." I shall speak of him later. 
A grand ball was given at the City of Fort Madison a few 
miles up the river, and I was invited to it. It was a typical 
ball of the times. I may digress here to speak a little of the 
dancing of the period. The pioneer dances were entirely " squsre 
cotillions," with an occasional "country dance" (which pedan- 
tic philologists have changed to "contra dances" as they have 
changed the old-fashioned welch-rabbit to "rarebit"). The 
"cotillion," otherwise called the "quadrille," was to the "coun- 
try dance" in favor as nine to one. The country dance was 
executed in two long lines ; it was more of an open-air dance, 
because it could be performed on the sod. Everybody under- 
stood the cotillion. The figures were very numerous. Every 
town and village had persons who could teach them. New 
figures were continually invented, and traveling dancing teachers 
kept the towns instructed. In addition to this the new figures 
were printed and illustrated in pamphlets on the sabject, and 
were described in the newspapers. Every town and village 
had "callers" who could call and explain the figures, old and 
new. They were the pets of society, and generally first-class 
young men who could go anywhere and be received anywhere. 
The effect of the German immigration upon this American state 
of society was very marked. The Germans who came were 
educated and intelligent; they had their "round dances" — 
the waltz, polka, and many others. The American parent did 
not like these dances; they were too intimate, too familiar. 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 91 

The parent forbade the child to dance any of the ''Dutch dances," 
but the old-fashioned parent could not control the situation. 
The German had come to stay, and so had his dances. The 
pulpit, which in those days found fault with every amusement 
that it did not originate or control, tlenounced the German dances 
with fierce phrases. The subserviency of the church member- 
ship to the pulpit in those days was something that is very dif- 
ficult now to understand. The attack on the German dances 
lasted through years; they were called immodest, and the di- 
version of infidels. But the German and his dances were irre- 
sistible. 

In a furtive way the German dances spread among the Amer- 
icans. That kind of dancing was not born into them, and so 
had to be taught. Then came a compromise in society, a com- 
bination of the two styles. The German modified the "cotil- 
lion," and we had the waltz quadrille, and the polka ciuadrille, 
and many others ; for instance, the "octagon schottische qua- 
drille." There was never anything as intricate or delightful ever 
invented as the dances of that period. They required quick- 
ness, brightness, attention, and grace. Each of the girls and 
many of the boys, of that period, had them all. 

It was at this Fort Madison dance that I first saw the "New 
Catholic." It was a pantomime waltz quadrille. Those were the 
days when the dancing-master traveled with his wife from city 
to city and made money, organized bliss, and supplied the com- 
munities with ecstasy. From the Fort Madison dance I sadly 
returned to Keokuk. 



CHAPTER 9. 

Keokuk.— Constant Drill.— The Officere.— The Cooks.— Sick Men.— Poi- 
soned Pies. — Hospital. — Spies. — Missouri Disturbances. — Steamboat and 
Flag.— Floyd's Nephew. — Election of Colonel. — liieuten ant-Colonel. — 
Major. — Regimental Officers. — Laundry. — -Muster-in. — May 14, 1861. — 
Personal Dissatisfaction. — Old Mace. — Chicken Mess, No. 1. 

Our drill in camp was constant. AVe learned the bugle-calls; 
we took down our tents, put them in wagons, hauled them 
around and put them up again, so as to learn speed. Every- 
thing seemed to go all right except the commissary department. 
Our cooks did not know how to cook. Rations were wasted, 
and we thought that the commissary was stealing from us. 
Careless cooks spoiled much food, and twenty per cent of the 
men went on the sick list. Our officers were mostly inefficient, 
and did not know how to take care of their men. Our company 
became dissatisfied, and was about half of the time on the edge 
of a mutiny. Soldiering is a profession; men must learn first 
to take care of themselves and then to take care of one another. 
Officers must learn to take care of their men and to make the 
men take care of themselves, and of one another. The officers 
of our regiment got new gold-mounted uniforms, and most of 
them swelled around without any thought that they had any 
duties or responsibilities. Our First Lieutenant was a good of- 
ficer; the other two were of no account. Most of the company 
officers j:)layed billiards down-town, attended balls and parties, 

(92) 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 93 

and were on exhibition. They did not seem to think they had 
anything to do except to strut. The cooking became intolerable 
and the officers insufferable. When complaint was made to 
the officers they made light of everything and rectified nothing. 
Every soldier in the company finally learned how to cook. I 
sent home for money, and managed to get something to eat oc- 
casionally. Once our cooks went on a drunk for two days, and 
we had a tough time of it. They woukl have been undoul^t- 
edly punished, but our captain went on a simultaneous drunk 
for three days, and he felt constrained to be charitable. Our 
First Lieutenant was all that held our company together ; he 
had been in the Mexican War, as before stated, and had some 
ideals. (He afterwards made a splendid reputation as a colo- 
nel of another Iowa regiment.) Other companies fared as we 
did. There were a few good, conscientious officers, but only a 
few. I mention these things to- show what will always be the 
first history of a volunteer company in any war. The men will 
always get sick from bad cooking, and the officers, four out of 
five, will always shirk their duty. The officers who stay in 
camp and make the men take care of themselves, who look after 
the clothing of their men, who make the cooks do their duty or 
tie them up by the thumbs, — ^these officers save the lives of 
their men and eventually get their respect, and obtain rank. 
Such officers, however, are few in the beginning, and must gen- 
erally come up from the bottom. A man, in order that he may 
take care of others, must have been neglected himself. 
A number of the sick men were pronounced by the doctors to 



94 THi: LYON CAMPAIGN. 

have been poisoned. There were those in the city who would 
not hesitate to make away with a soldier by any means. Guards 
were put on the wells and our water-supply. Poison was in 
pies that were sold by traveling vendors of stuff. I struck one 
of these pies; I ate a part, and not liking the illy-disguised 
taste threw the balance away. I was taken to the hospital down- 
town and given some heroic treatment. In a couple of days I 
was able to walk a little around the hospital. While spying 
around the great building I saw through a half-open door the 
raw leg of a man hung up on the wall; it was dripping 
blood ; it had been taken off at the pelvic joint, and was hanging 
up by the tendon of the heel. The sight had an instantaneous 
therapeutic effect; I was cured; I called a hack and went out 
to camp. Some of the boys did my tluty for a couple of days, 
and I never was in the hospital again. It was noticed by the 
boys that those who sold unwholesome articles were never seen 
around camp again. I looked for the man who sold me the pie, 
but never saw him afterwards. 

Rumors of Rebel invasion of Iowa were of hourly occurrence. 
We wanted to get into the field, but it was constantly reported 
that we would never leave Keokuk. A second and a third Iowa 
regiment had been nearly raised; they were to be three-year 
regiments. Northern Missouri was ablaze with secession. It 
looked as if we would be doing well if we kept the enemy off 
from Iowa soil. A steamboat came up from the south; it bore 
no flag. We went down and took possession of the boat and 
made the captain run up the American flag. Refugees from Mis- 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 95 

souri came into our camp and told of great wrongs over in Mis- 
souri, and how thousands of rebels were under arms, and how 
they talked of coming over and taking us in. Stories of mur- 
ders and assassinations came in daily groups. We were told 
that our camp was full of spies. This turned out to be true, 
for afterwards men of one of our companies in Missouri cap- 
tured a man that was recognized as a pie-seller in our Keokuk 
camp. Guards were sent out at night to various places over 
and near the town. We felt that the war had begun, and we 
hungered to show what the "mudsills" could do. 

One evening we heard that a nephew of the rebel Floyd who 
had been Secretary of War, and one of the greatest scoundrels 
in America, was in the city. Several of us made a plan to take 
him in; so after nightfall we "ran" the guard and went to the 
house and surrounded it and searched it, about one o'clock in 
the morning, but the young man had got away. There were spies 
enough, in the camp and out, to have given him the word. 
History shows but few greater rogues than this ex-Secretary 
Floyd, who plotted treason every minute he was in office; 
and Buchanan, if he had not been an old grandmother, would 
have had Floyd in prison, with stripes on, at hard labor. Yet 
since the war he seems to have been vindicated to the extent 
that it is said he worked "for what he thought was right." 
The "Lost Cause" was only unsuccessful ambition, and it paid 
the penalty. It cannot be galvanized by time or deeds into 
anything else than an ill-advised and unsuccessful plot on the 
part of the leaders. We regretted that we could not get the 



96 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

ii('I)li('\v of J^'Joyd and take liiiii into oanip, and make him liold 
up his hand and swear ahogiancc to the flag. The "fcJccesh" 
hated the flag much more than the Devil was ever charged with 
hating holy water. Speaking about the steamboat : it was a funny 
thing that when we made the captain of the boat run up the 
American flag, the boat having been thus delayed in loading, we 
all sang "Dixie" and loaded up his freight, and started him off 
with his flag flying. The song of "Dixie" had been in vogue 
for a couple of years; when we got into the field afterwards we 
shot at any man who sang "Dixie." 

On May 11th we Elected a Colonel, a Lieutenant-Colonel, 
and a Major. What influences brought about the selection of 
the candidates for the field offices I never could know or under- 
stand. The regiment voted for them, or supposed it did. Our 
Captain told the company that he had promised how the com- 
pany would go, and he wanted us to go that way — and we did. 
But it was all manipulated from the outside. Our selection 
was as follows : 

For Colonel we got the clerk of the District Court of Dubuque 
county, a man of 30; he had been an insurance agent and a 
.real-estate agent, and had been for several years a local, petty 
all-around politician, of small calibre, without any knowledge of 
military matters drawn from either reading or experience. Why 
he was put forward, why he got in and why he was commissioned, 
will forever be a mystery. 

For Lieutenant-Colonel we got a lawyer from Cedar Rapids 
of about 36. He was not much of a lawyer, had no prominence, 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 97 

had neither pusli nor abihty. He knew nothing whatever of 
military matters, never drilled us, always stayed in the back- 
ground, and we saw but little of him. 

For Major we got a jolly old man from Mt. Pleasant, nearly 
55. He knew nothing of military matters; was considerable 
of a sport, and while his duties rested lightly on him, and he 
paid but little attention to anything, we liked him because he 
was good-natured and jolly. 

In the selection of these three officers, the north, center and 
south of the State were represented. Geography was satisfied, 
but the soldiers of the regiment were not. No one of these 
three officers had the slightest military training, knowledge, 
or instinct. 

The reason why the war lasted so long was that the regiments 
in the beginning were so poorly officered. Before the regiment 
could do much service it had to unload its initial officers and 
get a new outfit. The first officers were appointed for political 
reasons, and through favoritism or relationship and without ref- 
erence to ability. On account of it the North would have been 
whipped in the war had it not been that the vice was worse in 
the South than in the North. The slave oligarchy did the same 
thing in a more flagrant way, and suffered for it in proportion. 

The merchants of Keokuk kept large stores of powder in 
powder-houses beyond the city limits. I was detailed on guard 
one night with others, and walked a beat near one of these 
structures ; a terrific storm came up, with much vivid lightning, 
and I was glad when I was relieved. The officer of the guard 



98 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

(lid not have brains enougli to look after his men, and he stayed 
in somewhere out of the wet ; he did not have sense enough to 
take care of me. 

The month of May wore away and we were still in camp. 
Our uniforms were w'earing out, but we were becoming perfect 
in our drill. We did our laundry down on the banks of the Mis- 
sissippi ; every man washed his own clothes. We WTre inspected 
by an officer of the United States, Captain Alexander Chambers. 

The time had come, May 14, 1861, for muster into the United 
States Army. Four of our men I'efused to be nuistered into the 
United States service ; they said they did not intend to go and 
fight to free the nigger. This was believed by the boys to be 
only a mask for cowardice, and they whooped the men out of 
camp in great shape. One who was quite ill was not mustered 
in, and ten more were rejected. The United States officer was 
suspected of having been posted by our First Lieutenant, be- 
cause the ten who were rejected were yoimg men who had appar- 
ently determined to be tough. But the places were quickly 
filled, and the company was better off. A more sturdy lot of 
young men could not have been found. When we were mustered 
in, w^e numbered 99. No company in the regiment surpassed 
us, and the personnel may be understood when I say that the 
Iowa City company averaged 160 pounds in weight per man. 
Our company never got around to weighing up, but was equally 
good, with an average age of 22 years. 

We WTre now soldiers of the United States of America, and 
were very proud, but our home-made uniforms were getting 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 99 

shabby, and the Government had no uniforms to issue to us. 
Affairs in Saint Louis were interesting the West, and still we 
were being held to guard Iowa. The regiment grew exceed- 
ingly restive; the war was on; Jeff Davis had issued his proc- 
lamation of war nearly a month (Montgomery, Ala., April 29, 
1861). Missouri seemed to be a secession camp, and yet we 
were without United States uniforms and equipment, and were 
kept at home to do guard duty. The regiment became mu- 
tinous. The officers were practically unable to control it. Hun- 
dreds of men broke guard and went down-town and lay around 
damning their officers. The available soldiers of whole com- 
panies were detailed to go down-town and arrest the malcon- 
tents. Men would openly insult their officers and be sent to 
the guard-house, from which they would break at a favorable 
time. Our Captain became of no account whatever, and the 
Colonel the same. The Colonel would treat us to whisky when 
he met us. (3ur rations were so unsatisfactory, our cooks so 
careless and useless, and our officers so incapable, that some- 
thing had to be done. Private messes were formed. I was 
invited to go into a mess formed by some of the corporals and 
sergeants; we bought some utensils, got some that were is- 
sued, and went to work to get and have something to eat. For- 
tunately a fugitive slave came into camp, and said he could cook 
and had cooked in the Mexican War. We picked him up and 
installed him. I shall speak of him more at length hereinafter. 
He said his name was Mason Johnson ; he was a treasure. We 
called him "Old Mace." He took right hold; he went out 

LOfC. 



100 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 



on the edge of town, outside of camp, and milked the town 
cows; he made "pone," which we had never heard of before; 
he took Government rations and with the addition of trifles he 
made food worth eating. I shall never forget "Old Mace" : he 
is the only black idol I ever had. When we afterwards got to 
naming our messes, "Old Mace" named our mess "Chicken 
Mess, No. 1." From this time on we lived high; we notified 
our sisters and sweethearts that the mess had been started, 
and we got consignments of fruit-cake and other nutritious and 
indigestible stuff by express. 

On May 31, 1861, I^yon took charge of affairs in St. Louis. 
His action at the time was considered a "bluff," but it did not 
turn out so, for he eventually made good. 



CPI AFTER 10. 

June Comes. — Rain. — Tobacco. — Poker. — Zouave Drill. — Douglas Funeral. 
— Great Bethel. — Striking Camp. — Our Dog. — June 13th. — Trip to 
Hannibal. — Breakfast. — June 14th. — Macon. — ^^Oratory. — O'Connor. — ■ 
Guard-House. — Cognac. — Blackberry Brandy. — French Jo. 

The month of June opened up without promise of any service 
outside of Iowa. Over in Illinois, east of us, along the river, 
there were constant rumors of secesh disorders, and widespread 
Southern sympathy. Gangs of toughs came over in the ferry- 
boats, and fights on the levee were of frequent occurrence. It 
really seemed as if lots of the toughs and ignorant class wanted 
to be martyrs to the cause of secession. We talked these things 
over among ourselves, and it seemed as if the tide of disunion 
was growing stronger and Union sentiment was growing weaker. 
The attacks upon President Lincoln by Northern men and news- 
papers seemed to daily grow in quantity and rancor. The war 
was claimed to be due to Northern aggression, and to be a fight 
for the ''nigger," who did not want freedom and who did not 
know what was going on and cared less. About the first of June 
a rainy season set in ; our tents were thin and did not keep out 
the water, but only split the drops. The tents had no top-flies, 
and in course of time everything became damp and mouldy. We 
made a shelter for Mace's fire with tree-tops and a blanket. The 
boys were confined to their tents by stress of weather. About 
this time a wholesale merchant, who was afterwards Senator 

(101) 



102 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

Jolin H. Gear of Iowa, sent to the company a large box of chew- 
ing-tobacco. There were several plugs for each man, and it was 
fairly divided. During this rainy season the boys played poker 
for this tobacco. 

Poker and Brag were games that the Ix^ys all generally knew. 
Poker was a development of brag. Brag was played with three 
cards. They were dealt one at a time, and every man bet his 
three cards as hard as he dared, as soon as they were dealt. The 
game was very simple : aces were called "bullets," and the slang 
allusions and expressions of that day were in terms of brag in- 
stead of })eing in terms of poker as to-day. I remember once 
that a Canadian came to our town and was reported to have 
I)rought considerable money with him ; a prominent citizen spoke 
of him as holding ''two bullets and a bragger." In the gaine 
certain cards held an elective value and were called "braggers." 
Three aces were the best hand; what the man meant was that 
the Canadian held almost three aces, that is, was almost as rich 
as anybody. Poker as a gambling-game was played with the 
highest twent>y cards in the deck — ace, king, ({ueen, jack, and 
ten-spot. It had received the name of "twenty-deck" poker. 
There was no draw to it. Each man held his five cards and bet 
them as high as he wanted to. Only four could play it, and the 
deal exhausted the cards. The money which Isaw lost at cards 
on the steamboats was at twenty-deck poker, and everybody 
understood the game. When, however, five or more wanted to 
get into the game after our company was formed, we had taken 
more and more cards from the deck until we played what we 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 103 

called ''full-deck." The whole mess would sit around the blan- 
ket with beans, and play ''freeze-out" to see who should go on 
guard, or wash the clothes, or police the tent. No money was 
used, nor was there any acquisitive gambling, but all contro- 
versies were settled by freeze-out. It was when the tobacco 
came down from Mr. Gear, and the boys l^egan to play freeze-out 
for the plugs, that the "draw" was first introduced. Whence it 
came or by whom introduced I do not know. It was at first con- 
demned as an innovation, but before that rainy spell had cleared 
off everybody in our company understood and had adopted and 
had approved the new game, and its name was "draw-poker." 
"Brag" and "20-deck" immediately disappeared and were never 
heard of in the regiment afterwards. The "jack-pot" was a 
Cleveland innovation, which was not introduced until after the 
war. Corporal Bill of our mess went out, and before the weather 
cleared up brought in seventeen plugs from the other tents; 
other members of om* mess did well, so that we had more than a 
double share. This was nearly the end of all of our poker-play- 
ing during the campaign; for we never had much opportunity 
to play afterwards. Our bayonets were our candlesticks; we 
stuck the sharp end of the bayonet in the ground and the candle 
fitted exactly into the socket. I have often thought that can- 
dles had their size fixed by the military necessity. A ring of 
seven players in a tent around a l)lanket with seven candles burn- 
ing on bayonets stuck into the ground has always been to me a 
dream of happiness. 

Intense excitement prevailed from about the first of June. 



104 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

The camp was constantly filled with rumors of secession move- 
ments in Missouri. Twenty men were detailed every night from 
each company to sleep on their arms, so as to be ready at a mo- 
ment's notice ; and a large detail also slept at the guard-house. 
It was not known at what moment we might expect an attack. 
Rebel regiments were being raised across the Des Moines river 
in sight of our town. The weather cleared off, and drilling was 
resumed with great earnestness. We went out and drilled with 
our blankets, canteens and haversacks on ; that is, in full mili- 
tary equipment. It was hard drudgery, and with our dress- 
parades made fi-om five to six hours a day of very hard work. 
We kept our Zouave method of drill, and hence drilled differently 
from any other comj^any. It was afterwards our salvation. 

The Douglas Funeral took place on Tuesday, June 11. The 
great man had died. We had all become great admirers of 
Douglas for the stand he had taken in support of Lincoln and 
the war. The name of Douglas was worth to the l^nion cause 
a hundred thousand men. Everywhere in the North, as far as 
I ever heard, there was a funeral ceremony wherever Union 
troops were camped. Perhaps it was an order of the War De- 
partment ; at any rate, we all thought it was just the right thing. 
An artilkny caisson was surmounted with a coffin and draped 
with the American flag, and we marched all around through the 
town and suburbs with arms reversed, funeral style, the drum 
corps playing a long-drawn-out and monotonous funeral dirge. 
It was an afternoon job, and tiresome withal, but we all thought 
it ought to be made a worthy pageant. We were followed by a 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 105 

coluiiiii of civiliaiivS that we could not count, but 1 slunild guess 
that 10,000 peojjle were with us on that afternoon, while the 
ceremonies lasted, ending with dress-parade in camp. 

The Victory of Great Bethel was heralded on the evening 
of June 12. It was pronounced "a great strategic victory," 
which of course was buncombe. We all went wild with enthu- 
siasm. The bugle-calls did not get the men to bed ; the officers 
came around and made the lights all go out, but in the stillness 
and darkness the men screamed and cheered. These were sand- 
wiched in with profane remarks about our being held back. 
Irreverent remarks about the officers were shouted from tent to 
tent, and the fact was greatly bewailed that the war would end 
before anybody knew that the First Iowa were enlisted. 

The next day at four o'clock in the morning we w^ere routed 
out on bugle-call and told to get inunediately ready to go south. 
As I never expect to be young again, I never expect to see and 
knA again such enthusiasm. The camp became a howling mob. 
The men became good-natured again. Orders came to leave all 
baggage and take nothing that we could not carry. We were 
told to "strip down to the buff." We were told that every man 
would be inspected and not a surplus ounce permitted. Ex- 
press teams came to the camp and we sent home our carpet- 
sacks containing all of the neckties, slippers and shaving-mugs 
the girls had given us; also everything else that wt could not 
carry in our pockets. We even consented to let our Bibles go, 
but kept the poker-decks. Tents were rolled up and the whole 
regimental outfit was soon down on the wharf and we went on 



108 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

board of a stcanilwat, and lo! and behold, it was the 'Mennie 
Deans/' whose captain, as before stated, we had made run up 
the American flag. (In those days we called it the American 
Flag.) 

There had been a lot of vagrant, tramp dogs visiting the camp 
fm'tively ; they were a bad-looking lot. The ugliest was a mud- 
colored mongrel, whom somebody named "Lize"; she was so 
ugly that she was a curiosity. She had never had a friend, and 
had been kicked around and half-starved to death until she was 
painfully timid. Our company adopted this dog and placed it 
under the charge of Sergeant Harbaugh (afterwards a Brigadier- 
General of the Regular Army). Our drunken captain, and Lize, 
were taken aboard, and down the river we started. Charley 
Stypes had his accordion in a bag over his stalwart shoulders. 
Charley was one of our favorites ; he could jiilay an accompani- 
ment to a mocking-bird, a steamboat whistle, or a roll of thun- 
der. He was a big, handsome, even-tempered boy who could 
play the accordion for forty-eight hours without batting an eye. 
Well, he ran a stag-dance on the hurricane deck all the way down 
to Hannibal, where we arrived at 12 o'clock midnight. I put in 
some time trying to color a new meerschaum pipe that had 
been presented to me by a girl whose brother I did not like. 

Hannibal was the eastern end of a railroad line which ex- 
tended west across the State of Missouri. The line was a new, 
uneven, unballasted, crooked, "jerk-water" sort of a railroad; 
but cars could be kept on the track if the speed were low and the 
engineer diligent. The line was deemed one of great strategic 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 107 

importance. On arrival at Plannil^al we were marched nj:) into 
the town and halted on the street in the black night. We stood 
there about an hour waiting for orders. ''What are we doing 
here?" asked everyone; nobody knew. The officers were all 
gone. In fact, they were up at the hotel, sound asleep, and had 
left us to take care of ourselves. Bad officers sometimes are a 
benefit to their men ; the men learn to take care of themselves, 
are put on their own resources, and do not rely upon anyone to 
look after or provide for them. It gives the men initiative, and 
puts them on the lookout. This night in Hannibal I will never 
forget. We had no supper; after waiting a while we went to 
the curbstone of the pavement and sat down; we stacked our 
arms in the middle of the street, put two guards to watch, then 
lying down on the lorick j^avement we curled up and went to 
sleep. We were awakened at sunrise by a bugle-call. We 
'Hook" arms and formed in line, but it was a false alarm. The 
call was from a group of tents on a hill near town where two 
companies of Illinois infantry (I think the Sixteenth) had camped 
the day before. I may say here that one of the private soldiers 
in the Illinois tents afterwards became, and remained through 
life, one of my best and warmest friends, — Noble L. Prentis. 

Hannibal was then a straggling, struggling, western, wooden, 
Missouri town. Finding nothing to do, we nmd-sills again 
curled up on the sidewalk ; after a while a wagon drove up and 
gave us a ham for each ten men, and ])iled out on the sidewalk 
in boxes a lot of bread of all kinds and sizes, intermixed with 
a lot of crackers. It looked as if all the bakeries in town had 



108 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

been rol)l)e(l. There ^^x'l•e all kiiitls and sizes of bread — brown, 
black and white, rye, graham, and fancy — loaves big and little 
— some sour, some fresh and some old. We ate it all up and 
then began to roam around and buy things from the opening 
stores — young onions, bologna, anything that they had to sell. 
Still no officers apj^eared until about 11 o'clock. Thc^y arrived 
fresh as daisies, the bugle was sounded, and we were marched 
to the railroad station. At 12 noon, Friday, June 14th, we 
WTre put into some stock cars and billed, so I suppose, for 
Macon, which was 70 miles west by track measurement. In 
the afternoon we pitched our tents in that village, Macon, be- 
side a railroatl dum}) which was to be used as a fortification if 
attacked. It was reported that 500 infantry and 200 cavalry, 
organized for the Confederate army, were near us down on the 
Chariton river west of town. We slept on our arms that night 
because the rebel cavalry had reconnoitered our position in 
jilain view. At this town our regimental orators developed. 
A great number came in to look at the camp, — some from 
friendship, some from curiosity, and some as spies. When a 
good number had gathered some member of our regiment 
made them a red-hot, spread-eagle Union speech. I may not 
refer to this phase of our campaign again, and so will say here 
that we argued our case all the way through Missouri. It was 
musketry and discussion, cold lead and controversy, from first 
to last. Whenever any man found a Missourian who would 
stand hitched long enough to listen, the latter had the Union 
cause talked into him. . We were both missionaries and musket- 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 109 

eers. When we captured a man we talked him nearly to death ; 
in other respects we treated him humanely. The Civil War 
was a l)attle of ideas interrupted l)y artillery. The speakers 
of our regiment were in no instance officers. Every officer had 
under him a number of men who were his superiors in ability, 
education and social standing. The best speaker that we had 
in our regiment was a soldier of the Muscatine company, ''A," 
named Henry O'Connor. He was like an old flint-lock — he 
required "priming" before he would go off; l^ut he did good 
execution. He afterwards held high office in Iowa, but I do 
not now remember what it was. He deserved all he got. 

At Macon City, when we arrived there, I was detailed on 
guard, and was stationed the furthest out on the dump, and 
was ordered to keep my gun loaded and cocked, so that if I was 
picked off I might at least have strength enough left to fire 
an alarm. This was comforting. I had just passed a hard 
day and night before I went on guard, and on the next morn- 
ing I came in pretty well used up. I was asked to go into town 
and find a grindstone and sharpen the mess cutlery preparatory 
to a campaign. I did so, and also ground my bayonet down to 
a fine sharp triangular jwint. AVhen I came back I heard that 
the cai)tain had ordered all guns cleaned and an inspection for 
noon. I went to the captain and asked permission to fire off 
the load in my musket because it would take too long to draw 
the load with a ball-screw. He said, "Yes." Thereupon I 
fired the gun into the bank, and had hardly begun to clean it 
when a scjuad came and arrested me by order of the colonel 



110 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

for firing tho gun; T claimed the iierniission of the captain, and 
the}' took nic before him antl he denied it. Tliereupon a colloquy 
arose, and I called the captivin something, and then I called 
him something else. I remember the idea, but not the exact 
language. Thereupon I was gently conveyed to the guard- 
house, which was the freight-house of the railroad, not a large 
building, standing upon stilts. I never felt so bad in my life. 
I wanted to shoot the captain and burn the depot. What 
would my best girl say when she heard, as she would, that I 
had been stuck into the guard-house, the very first day on the 
enemy's soil? My first dinner in hostile territory was sent to 
me in a mess-pan in the guard-house. I felt indignant, resent- 
ful and seditious. As we were liable to attack, my musket, 
blanket and accoutrements were sent me, with orders to fall 
into the company in case of attack. There were a couple of 
cars of freight in the depot and it was piled up against the end 
wall, and on the top about eight feet up was a layer of lightning- 
rods. I got up on the lightning-rods and went to sleep. After 
a while I woke up, and the more rested the more mutinous I 
became. The officer of the guard drew a line on the floor with 
chalk, beyond wliich I nnist not go; it gave me about eight 
feet of the end of the room. I occupied it and planned devil- 
ment. To think that a worthless, drunken, no-account cigar- 
maker could disgrace me that way burdened my soul. How 
could I ever get even with him was the cargo of my brain. If 
I struck him, a scjuad whom I didn't know would walk me out 
and shoot me full of large, ragged and unnecessary holes. I 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. Ill 

finally made up my mind that I would make myself a burden to 
him while in the service and thrash him within three-sixteenths 
when I got out. Then I bewailed the situation, and what my 
sister would say and what her friends would say, and what 
my girl would say, and what Mrs. Grundy would say, and I 
suffered more misery than anybody. I was carrying the photo- 
grajjh of the girl in the blank diary-book from which I now 
write these few melancholy lines. "What a shame," said I, 
"to have the picture of such a pretty girl in such a place." As 
I did not marry the girl, I am speaking of my sentiments then 
and not now. As she shortly afterwards married the most 
worthless, drunken, stay-at-home copperhead in the neighbor- 
hood, and experienced a sad and ruined life, I never bothered 
my head much about it afterwards. I came to the conclusion, 
taking this as one of my illustrations, that whereas three- 
fourths of our troubles and evils are imaginary, so also are three- 
fourths of our happiness. Pardon the digression. In a lone- 
some and degraded mood, and wanting something to do, I 
proceeded to pull down the lightning-rods onto the floor so as 
to make a better place to sleep, and lo! and behold, I discov- 
ered a half-barrel labeled "Golden Grape Cognac." Now here 
was a place to do some thinking. After about a half-hour of 
intense cerebral activity, I took my bayonet, which was natur- 
ally crooked and artificially sharp, and using it like a brace- 
and-bit I began to bore into the head of the cognac barrel; it 
was about an inch and a half of well-seasoned oak. My prog- 
ress was exceedingly slow, but I had plenty of time. I blis- 



112 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

tered both hands but I got down six inches into the barreL 
I then opened negotiations with the guard, and found that he 
would offer no objections to having his canteen filled. I got 
the l)ig keg slewed around and filled the canteen. The guard 
then sent for me a message to Corporal Bill of om- mess. He 
came, and I told him to smuggle me in as many of the canteens 
of the boys as he could. Corporal Bill played a strategic game. 
He brought to the guard-house a young man with a dozen can- 
teens, and a camp-kettle full of water, and told the offi^cer of 
the guard that the young man must be punished and tlmt he 
must clean those canteens. The young man was put in with 
me and began to clean the canteens; he worked well and the 
officer watched him. When the officer went to headquarters 
to report, the young man's canteens were filled and a cpantity 
of the golden grape went into the camp-kettle and the guard 
let him go to his quarters, his punishment being over. About 
this time I discovered a barrel of l^lackbeny brandy, favorite 
Missouri drink. I again sent for Corporal Bill. I told him of 
my discovery, and that if he would get a brace-and-bit and 
bore up under the floor he could get it all. But I charged him 
to let the other companies in and have the whole regiment get 
the benefit. He afterwards reported that he had got the brace- 
and-bit and could get under the depot all right at the back 
end, but did not know where to bore. There was a box with 
some nails and a hammer in the corner of the room, and I drove 
a nail through the floor on two sides of the barrel. It was now 
dusk. I planned a malicious act. I felt that in a little while 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 113 

the camp would be a pcrtoct Gehenna, and I wanted my cap- 
tain to have some of the stuff. I sent him my canteen filled 
with Golden Grape, and he immediately proceeded to get full 
and make a fool of himself as I expected. As soon as it was 
dark Corporal Bill skillfully executed his ''stunt," and the 
camp-kettles of blackberry brandy began to circulate. In a 
little while I heard the shouting and yelling, and in a little 
while longer the guard-house began to fill. Soon the depot 
was full ; the new arrivals were noisy and boisterous for a while, 
but soon became quieter. At about 11 p. m. in the depot with 
a scuffle and a push came tumbling one of the Dubuque com- 
pany known as ''French Jo." In a little while he began sing- 
ing "The Happy Land of Canaan." It was a new song and 
very catchy. Jo was tempestuously musical; he woke up 
everybody and made them join in the chorus. He said his 
song had 217 verses, and after he had sung it for an hour we all 
thought it had. His song was all about how John Brown had 
gathered up his men and what he said to them, and how they 
captured Harper's Ferry, and how the State of Virginia was 
scared, and how all the soldiers of Virginia were scared, and 

how 

Old Governor Wise 

Put liis spectacles on his eyes 

And sent him [Brown] 

To the happy land of Canaan. 

The meter and the rhyme were broken and tmskillful, I)ut the 
story was a true folk-lore ballad; it had pathos and it had his- 
tory, and Jo made the boys sing the chorus with him for an 



114 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

hour or more. I always thought that Jo made it up; I had 
never heard what he sang before and I never saw it in print 
afterwards. The guard-house was full, and so were all the 
inmates, and the scene was indescribable. There were members 
of every company", and every one present either already knew^, 
or then and there learned, the tune. From that night it l)e- 
came our regimental song, and we sang it on long and weary 
marches and when the stars were shining and when the enemy 
was in view. When we marched and sang it a thousand strong 
it could be heard for miles. ''See those Iowa greyhounds," 
said General Lyon, "stretch out when they sing the Happy 
Land of Canaan." Said Sigcl, "There goes that tam Happy 
Land of Canaan." Jo became hoarse about three o'clock in the 
morning, and we slept until four. We were all sent to our 
cj;uarters at guard-mount, and concerning the whole matter 
nothing was ever done. I was asked some questions, but re- 
membering the inmiunity which the Constitution of the United 
States gave me I declined to incriminate anybody, including 
myself. Privately, I was considered a benefactor by the boj^s, 
and they always thereafter divided with me liberally. 

During that afternoon a scouting party captured a Confederate 
Brigadier by the name of Bevier, with his commission on his 
person; this was much fun. As a town of that name now 
exists in that neighborhood it may have been named for him. 



CHAPTER 11. 

Union Flag. — Macon. — Serenades. — Huestis and Grimes. — Link. — The Flag- 
Pole. — Bridge Guards. — General Price. — June 18th. — Railroad Break- 
ing. — 500 Cavalry. — Go it, Aunty. — Renick. — Newspaper. — Yancey 
House.— Boonville Battle.— Little Bawly.— June 20th.— Fayette.— The 
Missouri River. 

When we had first come into Macon there were several "Se- 
cesh" flags flying, but they were quickly torn down, some by 
citizens, and some by us. But there were no American flags 
flying. There were not many loyal people in Macon, at least not 
enough to make it safe for them to assert their loyalty, before 
we came. The next day the American flags began to come out, 
and it is my recollection that 16 in all were run up, by the citi- 
zens, on their houses. It was thought best to take notice of it, 
and so every afternoon Major Porter went around with our regi- 
mental fife-ancl-drum corps and gave every flag a serenade, antl 
if a crowd gathered Henry O'Connor would make them a speech. 
This sort of business pleased Major Porter, who was a good-na- 
tured old gentleman, as stated, of about 55 years of age. These 
recognitions, to these Union families, brought about dire revenge 
upon them after our troops left. The principal newspaper of 
the town was furiously rebel, and full of the talk about one South- 
ern man whipping five Northern men. We got and read many 
copies of it; they were wild, silly and bombastic. We passed 
them around and read them aloud to the squads that gathered. 

(115) 



IIG THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

The paper said that if a Yankee stepped onto the sacred soil of 
Missouri his blood would flow right then and there. The editor 
fled as we came, and we issued his paper for him. The original 
name of the paper was "The Missouri Register." We called it, 
''The Whole Union." Men were detailed from the companies 
to run the paper while we were there. 

My guard-house experience was valuable to me in many ways, 
but most of all it gave me an opportunity to tell each of my com- 
rades in the company what a worthless and unreliable man our 
captain was; and to get them entirely in sympathy with me, — 
all of which produced strange results, as we shall see. I was 
never under guard after that. It was my last and only guard- 
house experience. But the next day Huestis and Grimes fell 
under the ban of the captain. Grimes had made some mistake 
on drill, and Huestis had done something, and the captain or- 
dered Huestis to drill Grimes until further orders. Huestis was 
the wit of the company — a tall, lean, cadaverous youth, tireless 
as the wind and good-natured as a colt. He chewed much to- 
bacco jjut talked little; when he spoke he said something. 
Huestis took Grimes out and drilled him all afternoon. He 
kept Grimes always on the "double-quick." He "right-dressed" 
him on a tree or a fence-corner, had him count off "by fours," 
deployed him as skirmishers, and wheeled him around in column 
of platoons. It was hard work for both, but l^y supper-time 
about half of the regiment was out seeing Huestis (h'ill Grimes. 
At supper-time Huestis marched Grimes in and ordered him to 
stack arms and come to a parade rest while Huestis got him some- 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 117 

tiling to eat; he then marched him around to tlie captahi's tent 
and reported, then marched Grimes out onto the parade-ground 
and told him to "break ranks" and go to his quarters. 

At Macon City we got our last consignments from home. I 
got a new pair of pants, and a lot of jellies, jams, fruit-cake, and 
money. Our uniforms were getting ragged and we all needed 
clothes. We never got anything from home after that except 
letters, and only a few of them. The boys of our company had 
been used at home to being well fed and well clothed, and now to 
be shabbily dressed and fed on a pork army ration was galling. 
Our mess had money to buy things with, and with the help of old 
Mace got along pretty well. Personally I never had eaten fat 
pork ; I was raised on beefsteak. My good New England mother 
would never have bacon around the house. I do not remember 
of ever eating any bacon until I went into the army. And there 
were many others like me. During the 40's and 50's there were 
many food fads; vegetarianism got a good hold upon society, 
and at our house graham bread and beefsteak were the things. 
For several years, although in perfect health, I had not eaten 
butter or any fats, or drank tea or coffee, — so, when I went into 
the service, "side-meat" and "salt junk" (pork) were things 
that I coukl not endure ; and there were many like me. But I 
got along all right with a little money from home. I was tall, 
six feet in my stockings, weighed about 150, and did not have an 
ounce of fat on. I was nicknamed ."Lincoln." It was not in- 
tended to be complimentary; it was because I was tall and slim. 

President Lincoln was not then in very good standing. The 



118 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

North was then (HvIcUmI into two parties, one of which wanted 
him to go faster and anathematized him for not going; the other 
wanted him to go slower and condemned his rapidity, and hence 
poor Lincoln had a hard time of it and pleased nobody. In 
June, 1861, Mr. Lincoln appeared wholly friendless ; we boys then 
had no confidence in him whatever. My name was abbreviated 
into "Link," and old Mace adch"essed me as "Massa Link," after- 
wards "Corpular Link." He meant Corporal, but I was only a 
private in the rear rank, and only just ordinary as a private. 

In Macon City we stayed until the 18th of June. Infantry 
scouting parties were sent out every day from camp in all direc- 
tions, and began to bring in secession flags which they found fly- 
ing out in the country. Squads were sent out each afternoon to 
guard railroad bridges overnight. Every railroad train that 
came in had bullet-marks, mostly on the engine cabs, which were 
shielded with boiler-iron. Attacks were made every night on 
the bridge guards. A high and beautiful flag-pole in Macon City 
which had been floating the rebel flag before our arrival was cut 
\lown by way of punishment, and was chopped up and burned, 
amid the maledictions of many women who were emboldened on 
account of their sex to do and say things that their husbands, 
sons and brothers did not dare. Companies of other regiments 
every day went through on the railroad to garrison points west 
of us, so that by June 18th there were said to be six thousand 
infantry on the line through to St. Joseph. And it was said that 
there was not a town from Hannibal to St. Joseph in which from 
a lofty and specially constructed flag-pole the rebel flag was not 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 119 

flying when our troops came. And there was not a town on the 
line in which a man would have dared to hoist on a pole the flag 
of his country. The secesh element absohitely dominated dur- 
ing that time the sentiment of North Missouri; and was blood- 
thirsty. The two worst towns were at the ends of the railroad — 
Hannibal and St. Joe; although Pahiiyra was as bad as it could 
be. There was a raih"oad newly built running south from Macon 
City. When we arrived, there were two engines there; the se- 
cesh ran one of them off, and disabled the other by taking away 
a valve so that it could not l)e made to move. Corporal Bill ex- 
amined the engine, then went into a blacksmith shop and made 
a new valve and put the engine in good running order. We had 
men in our company who could do anything that needed to be 
done. We had great difficulty in keeping up the telegraph lines, 
and nightly skirmishes were reported along the whole line of the 
road. We were constantly on the go, up and down the road and 
out into the country. Every train was being fired into, and the 
concurrent evidence was that there was a steady stream of horse- 
men going past us south toward the direction of Jefferson City, 
the State capital. On June 18th General Price with his secesh 
army camped in Boonville, which was about 50 miles southwest 
of Macon City, and General Lyon was after him with a fleet of 
steamboats. 

On the Morning of the 18th, Illinois infantry reinforcements 
came to hold the town of Macon City, and we were ordered to 
join Lyon immediately. The engine which Corporal Bill had 
fixed was steamed up and a lot of box-cars hitched on, enough 



120 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 



ill which to crowd our regiment. The engine was ii-on-platecl yo 
as to make the sides of the cab bullet-proof, and the doors were 
taken off the cars so that the boys could jump out and shoot. 
At this point of time the captain came along and ordered me 
to get up on a car and act as brakeman. This I considered a 
death sentence, and so I offered the position to Heustis, but he 
declined, saying that he would prefer to "break" the boys, at 
poker, on the inside. 

I mounted the car, got hold of the brake, lay down on the car 
with the brake between my feet, with my musket at my side. 
We started with the steam whistling, the boys yelling, the fife 
and drums playing ; and a large native crowed looking on who did 
not seem very much enthused. We had not more than got out 
of town when bang! went a bullet at the engine, and so it kept 
going. I lay as fiat on that car-roof as a sheet of tin. I do not 
think that anybody shot at me, but I w^as frightened every time 
the whistle sounded "brakes," for I had to sit up and take notice 
and twist. The route was all through the timber, and much of 
the route had heavy bushes on each side. At one place the 
train stopped and a farmer who was plowing at some consider- 
able distance off stopped his team and began gesticulating and 
shaking his fist at the train. A boy of our company drew a bead 
on him and hit and splintered the handle of his plow; then the 
man lay down flat in the furrow and stayed there until we moved 
on. A negro at a place where we stopped said that there were 
500 horsemen out in the river-bottom west of us; that General 
Marmaduke had disbanded the State Guards and sent them 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 121 

homo, and that thoy did not intend to be disbanded, and wore 
going down to join Price. General Sterling Price was the chief 
officer, and a great pot in Missouri, first, because he had been in 
the Mexican War, and second, because he was a good deal of a 
man. We soon found out that all unknowii bodies of horsemen 
were estimated at 500. If they were 100 or 1000 the average 
mind put them at 500. The country through which we went 
was new and raw; everybody WTut on horseback; horses and 
beef cattle were abundant, and here and there were fine farms 
with many slaves. 

At one place an old negro woman in the road seemed to catch 
the inspiration of the occasion, — she yelled and danced and 
shrieked and acted like a howling dervish; it was a wild, hys- 
terical outbreak of joy. She kept it up, and the boys kept yell- 
ing, "Go it, Aunty!" and she did. It was a sight never to be 
forgotten; she seemed to know what the war was about, and 
kept up her dancing and yelling until we got out of sight. 

At the Town of Renick, where we finally arrived, about 25 
miles south of Macon City, we found our run-away locomotive, 
and also found that the inhabitants had kindly burned the 
bridge so that we could not go further. A secesh flag was 
flying from a pole, and we chopped it down and used it for fuel. 
We were now 25 miles in a straight line from the rebel army, 
and further by country road. We got into town at about 2 
P. M., and saw numbers of horsemen around the edges of town. 
Here the roll was called, and we were told to stay where we 
could rally at a moment's notice; and were tokl that there 



122 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

was a tide of recruits going in companies to join Price, and that 
they might gather in sufficient c^uantities to attack us. 

The principal fire-eaters of the South were Yancey, Wigfall, 
and Toombs, in the order stated. They were the great rebel- 
and rabble-rousers; they were windy, bitter, and extreme. 
They were really of no military use, and faded out long before 
the war was closed. But at this time they were the ones who 
charmed the disordered fancy of the South. Renick was wildly 
and fiercely secession, and the big frame hotel in the town was 
named the ''Yancey House," in very large black letters across 
the whole side. A newspaper was also published there that 
was ferocious; a lot of the late issue was obtained and read; 
it produced mu<'h indignation. Finally a gang of printers got 
together, as if by instinct, from the ranks, and got out a large 
edition of the paper. The new issue denounced secession, and 
pledged a regiment of men from around Renick to the Union 
cause. Our boss orator soon had about half of the town around 
him listening to as good a speech as anybody could deliver. 
He carefully prepared it, and I never heard a better one during 
the war. In the mean time a soldier was seen putting a ladder 
up against the side of the hotel ; we watched him ; he mounted 
with a pot of paint and began erasing the letter C in the name 
"Yancey." Great was our delight when he finished by putting 
in a K, making it read ''YANKEY HOUSE." The night was a 
beautiful moonlight, and we lay around by comjianies on the 
grass. The camp gossip was that our colonel had sent three 
different dispatches to Colonel Lyon and had got no answers. 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 123 

Some of the sccesh told us that Price had whipped Lyon ; others 
said that Lyon had gone back to St. Louis. 

On the Morning of June 19th we began to hear rumors of the 
battle at Boonville. It was described to us as I find in my 
diary as follows: "Colonel Lyon made the attack in the form 
of a crescent. A good, strong fight was being made against 
him, and it looked dubious; all at once he ordered the points 
of the crescent to charge, and he pulled the men away from 
the center, disclosing a battery of artillery which fired a volley 
supporting the charge, and the secesh were whipped." This 
was the way it was told us. At Renick we impressed a lot of 
wagons to haul our stuff to Boonville, and started about noon 
of the 19th of June. We disturbed nothing and took nothing 
except as stated, and tried to make as good an impression as 
l)ossiblc. It was very gentlemanly and very humane, but it was 
not war. We marched that day fourteen miles to a town called 
"Bunker Hill." I do not fintl it on a post helium map. I guess 
that during the war the name was not relished, and was changed. 
Here a man came into our camp; he was shot through the 
arm in the Boonville fight. He said that some of Lyon's men 
charged them and fought, and fired and loaded "lying on the 
ground;" he said, "that's what whipped us." He then said he 
had had enough of war, and also, "damn the Dutch." We were 
immensely tickled at the "fighting on the ground." That was 
what our company wanted to get an opportunity of exhibiting 
— it was our strong suit. We had worn out our uniforms at it, 
rolling on the ground. 



124 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

We had in our conijiany two round-headed boys who had 
their hair chpped as short as it was possible to bo done with 
scissors. One was named "Big Baldy," the other, ''Little 
Baldy," which names were contracted to "Bawly." At Bunker 
Hill, Little Bawly wandered from camp and came onto three 
horses tied in the woods, and some washing, not dry, hanging 
on the bushes; Bawly gathered them in. Another found a 
coat containing the dispatches which had been sent by our 
colonel to General Lyon, showing that the messengers had been 
waylaid and killed. Scouts going out from our camp in every 
direction saw horsemen ; few of them had guns. Tliey seemed 
to be retreating from Boonville and yet spying our jjosition. 
Many shots were fired, but no damage done. We were told at 
Bunker Hill that Lyon was in a trap, that he could not get out, 
that the secesh had surrounded him, that their batteries had 
closed the river below him, and that we could not get to him 
without a fight. 

On the Morning of June 20th we were called at 2 o'clock 
in the morning; an advance guard sent out; a flank patrol 
organized, and we started the column at 4 o'clock. The march 
was in close order, protecting our wagons and flanks and ready 
for an attack. As a matter of fact we were surrounded by 
double our numbers, Ijut they could not get an advantage for 
attack. They were poorly organized, and we went through, to 
near the Missouri river, a distance marched that day of 17 miles. 
During the latter part of the ma'-ch I had l)een on the rear 
guard, which was the dangerous place, and when I got into 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 125 

camp the teams were unhitched and supper was ready. There 
never was a more exhausted mudsill than I was; the day had 
l)een hot, and 17 miles in the sun carrying my accouterments, 
and above all the old "smoke-pole," which by evening weighed 
a ton, about used me up. I did not get into camp until 9 p. m; 
I sat down on a wagon-tongue ; the boys were lying all around, 
sleeping every which way. Old Mace brought me a tin cup 
of coffee; it was too hot. I was too tired to eat. I set the 
coffee down on the ground to cool; I then slid over backwards 
on the ground, my legs over the wagon-tongue, and I slept until 
dawn; I then freed myself of the tongue, drank the cold coffee, 
and crawled under the wagon and went to sleep again. We 
were in the middle of a road, but it was a good-enough place to 
sleep. At eight o'clock I was awakened by Okl Mace. I was 
feeling splendidly, but the blisters on my feet were painful. 
I ate a breakfast and proceeded to examine my condition. I 
had about five good large blisters on each foot, well filled with 
serum. Mace took a pin, and, digging in some distance from 
the side, sluiced them off; adding, "Yous will get used to that, 
Massa Link; yous will come out all right, Massa Link." Dur- 
ing this day, June 20th, we marched through the beautiful 
village of Fayette. Beside the public square a fine tall pole 
had been flying the rebel flag. The flag was taken down be- 
fore our arrival, but we chopped down the pole as we passed, 
on the theory that it was guilty of treason punishable with 
death. Here we also got some beef cattle, probably purchased 
by the ciuartermaster because our ]x)ys had condemned the 



126 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

pork and wanted beef. When we reached the Missouri river 
we found catfish for sale, and sassafras bark; so we added to 
our cuisine catfish and sassafras tea. Bill Huestis said, "We 
have struck cinnamon seed and sandy bottom," which was a 
quotation from ''Dixie." 



MAP OF THE route: 
OF THE 

1*1 IOWA INFANTRY, 

FROM KEOKUK.IOWA 

TO 
BOONVI LLE, MISSOURI 
JUNE 13.1661 

TO JUNE 21.1861. 



O 




CHAPTER 12. 

June 21st. — Boots. — Lyon and Blair. — Our Steamboat. — Colonel Bates 
Rebuked. — -Fishing. — June 22d. — Captain won't Resign. — Corporals Re- 
duced. — June 2.3d. — Steamboats on the Mississippi. — Fletch Brande- 
bury. — Ballads. — June 24th. — Camping on Fair Grounds. — The Can- 
non. — Breaking Horses and Mules. — Midnight Bray. — Warned to be 
Ready. — June 25th. — Wagons and Wagon Mules. — The Jerk- Line. — 
Accidents. — The Colonel. — June 26th. — Ammunition. — Minie Bullet. — 
The Cartridge. — Cartridge-Box. — Pay for State .Service. — Clothing. — 
Stopping the Bray. — Grimes and the Mule. 

On the Morning of June 21st we were called at 4 a. m. I 
found that I could not get my boots on. Several others were 
in the same fix. I had a pair of French calf boots, which were 
the correct and stylish toggery of a young man of the period. 
I had had them made, and they fitted me beautifully tight. Tight 
boots and corns were fashionable. There were others like me, 
and there were several of us who found that our feet had swelled 
and that our boots would not go on. I took a knife and with 
sad compunction I slit the boots down the instep, and drew 
them on, and (I don't like to admit it) I found that corns well 
developed on both feet were giving me great pain. Corporal 
Bill strode along in a great pair of easy-fitting top boots and I 
envied him nuich. We reached the Missouri river opposite 
Boonville and a ferry-boat came and took us aboard. The 
river was high and bank-full. We could see tents across the 
river among the trees below Boonville back of the river upon 

(127) 



128 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

the hill. It was the Cooper County Fair Ground. A large 
stone-tjuarry had been opened on the river-bank, and about 
an acre of level stone uncovered. It was a shipping-point for 
stone on barges to St. Louis. The river had risen to within six 
inches of this level ledge of rock. There were two men alone 
at its edge watching our boat come across. We rounded near 
them; one had blue army pants, a linen coat and a black felt 
hat; it was Lyon. The other was dressed in citizen's clothes 
with an army cap, and he stooped and dipped a long black 
bottle into the raging Missouri. While he churned the bottle 
up and down, he watched us and turned up his face ever and 
anon to talk with Lyon, who was gazing at us through a field- 
glass. Some employe of the boat gave out the information, 
and the news circulated, "The man with a hat is Lyon." I 
wanted to know who the other was, and I finally found out 
from the pilot ; it was Frank P. Blair, a most brave and capable 
Union man. He soon became a general and one of our idols. 
I have often wondered what was in that bottle. 

We crossed the river and marched around, a little, in sort of 
review; Colonel Lyon looked us over and we went on board 
of a big steamboat, as a temporary camp-ground, so that we 
could be run up the river to Arrow Rock, about 15 miles, where 
the secesh were reported to be gathering. Our captain left 
the boat and went up town, and getting in with a gang of other 
officers of the same brand went on a wild, boisterous drunk. 
At night a strange rumor went aroimd, among the men, which 
was afterwards somewhat confirmefl; it was that Lyon had 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 129 

''cussed" our colonel black and l)lue. ''You are a fool, sir; 
you ought to be court-martialed, sir; you have brought your 
regiment in here all bunged up, sir. NolDody but an idiot, sir, 
would have marched raw troops like that, sir. There was no 
hurry, the fight was over, and you knew it, sir, and here you 
march your men — green men — nearly 15 miles the first day and 
more than that the second; you ought to be court-martialed, 
sir." When we heard this we enjoyed it. Two of my blisters 
as large as half-dollars, one under each heel, began immediately 
to get well. Several of the men fished from the boat, and dur- 
ing the night some fine catfish were caught. And Charley 
Stypes played the accordion. 

The Day of June 22, 1861, was spent on board of the boat, 
but it was an eventful day. Our captain was looking pretty 
tough. We prepared a petition asking him to resign. The 
movement was ethical, but not military. I used all of my 
persuasion to get it signed, and so did others; we got seventy- 
two names, among whom were two corporals. I was on a com- 
mittee who presented it to the captain. He told us in a very 
profane way that he not only would not resign, but that he 
would keep the petition and make it hot for the signers. He 
was told that if he harbored any such feeling and went to carry- 
ing it out, if the company got into action his life would be in 
great danger; thereupon he got frantic, and reduced to the 
ranks the two corporals who had signed the petition; then 
the other two resigned, leaving the company without corporals, 
we having but four. He then appointed some new corporalS; 



130 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

and they refused as such to serve. Then the captain went to 
a stateroom, and appeared no more for the day. During the 
night the boat steamed up and down the river, and moved 
around considerably as if engaged in demonstrations to mis- 
lead the enemy and their spies. 

On June twenty-third quantities of supplies were unloaded 
at Boonville; there were eleven large steamboats there from 
St. Louis. They were a fine lot of boats. In those days there 
were palaces floating all over the Western rivers. Fulton had 
hardly got a steamboat to working when its usefulness upon 
the Western waters was considered. Within five years boat- 
building began at Pittsburg, Pa., and in twelve years from the 
date of the invention there were 50 steamboats on the Western 
rivers. They averaged then 150 tons burden, and the largest 
(in 1819) was the "United States," of 500 tons burden, and the 
next was the "Columbus," of 400 tons. In 1849 they had greatly 
increased, and during that year at St. Louis I counted at the 
wharf 49 steamboats. I remembered the coincidence that 
there were 49 steamboats in the year '49. The golden era of 
steamboating was from then to the Civil War. It took the 
largest and strongest boats to stem the current of the Missouri 
river, and these WTre the boats Colonel Lyon had — and they 
made a most imposing appearance. As a camp-ground one of 
them could not be excelled. Our captain would not let us go 
off from the boat all day. At night there was shooting from 
distant points along the river. Bushwacking secesh wanted 
to try their rifles at long range on the brilliantly lighted steam- 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 131 

boats. Up to this time two of our men had been shghtly 
wounded, one at Macon City and the other somewhere on the 
road to Boonville. On the steamboat the boys did their wash- 
ing and mending, wrote great quantities of letters, and per- 
fected themselves in poker. The poker games here assumed 
an importance never again enjoyed, and w^e afterwards sighed 
for them and the catfish which we found in the Missouri river. 
We were still out of corporals, but did not need any at that 
particular time. 

One of the particular events of our steamboat imprisonment 
was the development of Fletch Brandebury (borne upon the 
rolls as I see now as Wm. F. Brandel^urg) as the boss ballad- 
singer of the regiment. He was a kind, jolly-hearted, true- 
blue printer, with a beautiful voice and a distinct musical gift. 
He learned every song that was sung; he bought every book 
that had a song in it. He organized some of the boys to help 
him, and in the contest for popularity in song he won the su- 
premacy in the regiment. Those were the days of I)al]ads. 
I could give a page list of them, but it would be a useless task; 
they are gone and forgotten. ''Old Black Jo" had just come 
out — it still survives — some. But the "Camptown Races," 
and " Trancadillo " and ''Ellen Ba3me," and a hundred others 
of that ballad age, to which we listened with rapture, are for- 
ever silent. All countries and all governments are safe during 
their ballad age. A ballad wilt win a battle. The fighters 
are the singers. Dyspepsia cannot achieve a campaign. Dear 
old Fletch! he lived to a ripe age; he is now with the majority. 



132 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

peace to him. If there be angels, and if they sing, Fletch is in 
charge of a brigade. 

On Monday, June 24th, after liaving been on the boat three 
days, we k^ft it and moved up into the Boonvihe fair-ground 
and pitched our tents along with the other troops. Not far 
from us was a large and curious mound, and it was being forti- 
fied. We all went and looked at the cannon. It was our 
first view of artillery. There was a fine battery, and we ex- 
amined it and reexamined it and asked questions until we knew 
all about it. The artillery boys were very kind, and did net 
tire in explaining everything. The steamboats were constantly 
going and coming, and officers were buying mules and putting 
them into a big corral ; wagons were being fixed up with bows 
and covers. A big circus was constantly going on in the breaking 
of horses and mules. It was fun, and we would volunteer our 
help. The wagon-boss would give us a horse to break or a 
mule to harness ; it was all clear fun ; besides, we were hurry- 
ing up the campaign. Every once in a while a man was thrown 
off and stood on his head b}^ a horse he attempted to ride, and 
was taken to the hospital with the man who got kicked by a 
mule; but it checked no one, and only in fact added to the in- 
terest of the occasion. Here we learned an interesting fact in 
the natural history of the Missouri arnu' mule, and that was 
that the mule wanted to bray at precisely twelve o'clock at 
night, just the same as a rooster who wanted to crow at that 
time. At our regimental headquarters was a covered farm 
wagon with a team of strong Missouri mules. At midnight one 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 133 

of them in the dark silence would send off a loud, self-conceited, 
egotistical bray. It would be taken up here and there until the 
camp was in a perfect uproar, and this would continue foi- several 
minutes until it finally died down into silence. Our nuiles kept up 
this habit all during the campaign. How the}^ could come so 
near guessing midnight was a puzzle to us. They were entirely 
ignorant of astronomy except as they were in the habit of ob- 
serving some one coming down whom they had sent up. Corpo- 
ral Churubusco said it was the same during the Mexican Wai', 
and that they stopped the nuiles from braying at midnight by 
tying weights to their tails. We put this information into our 
scrap-book. At dress -parade this day we were told to keep 
ourselves in readiness to march at any minute's notice, and were 
told that no one was to have a pass, even to go uptown. 

On June 25th Everything was Drill. Our company drilled 
all the forenoon, and all the afternoon on skirmish drill. It is 
strange how quickly some persons forget the bugle-calls. Skir- 
mish drill required constant work and attention. Our feet were 
getting into better condition. Not only were we drilling, but 
everybody else was drilling. The c^uartermaster was drilling; 
the teams were hitched up, and a load of some kind put in the 
wagons, and with a couple of soldiers the teams were driven 
around to get the mules bridlewise. There was always a team 
running away and somebody being sent to the hospital ; it was 
^'ery interesting and exciting to watch the development of the 
transportation. There were a large lot of heavy Government 
wagons bearing the name ''Espenchied," probably the name 



134 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

of tlic maker. The}'' were drawn l^y six mules each, in ]iaii's 
designated as the "lead" mules, the "swing," and the "wheel." 
The driver rode the nigh wheel mule (left-hand mule) and 
drove with a single line, a big whip, and his mouth. The driver's 
line was called a "jerk-line," and he jerked it to make them 
"gee" to the right, and gave a strong steady pull to make them 
"haw" to the left. The other wagons were farm wagons bought 
or impressed at Boonville, with extemporized covers, made 
of paulins, tent-flies, or anything that could be got. Colonel 
Lyon was working as hard and as fast as possible to organize 
a transportation train. The secesh on their part were im- 
pressing wagons and teams all around us from the willing people, 
to organize a transportation ecjuipment of their own. Neither 
army could march without transportation, and neither then 
dared to depend upon the country for supplies. So the break- 
ing in of raw animals and the organization of a transportation 
department was a matter of great interest, and one into which 
we entered with much zest and enthusiasm. Mules and horses 
were constantly breaking loose and running over everything, 
and knocking down tents. Once at night, 1 was detailed at 
regimental headciuarters to guard the colonel's tent. I got 
myself up in as good shape as possible and did my duty in the 
best possible style. Our colonel was a man whom at that time 
we had got to liking some. He was a fine-looking young man, 
and was kind in his personal relations with his men. AVhen- 
ever he was uptown and met some of his men he always asked 
them in to take a drink, or when they were on duty at his head- 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 135 

(liiartci's he always offered them a cigar. He was a good deal 
of a county politician, but somehow he was not a military man 
and could not be made one. Of course we did not know it at 
the time, and thought he might be a Napoleon, and we would 
have followed him into anything. He had a loud, resonant voice 
that could be clearly heard at a great distance, and on dress- 
parade he was a charming picture; we were proud of him on 
such occasions, and he was very proud of us. Much as I dis- 
like to say so, he turned out to be a complete failure. But we 
did not find it out until the last. He lacked the faculty of 
military effort and he lacked devotion to duty. I guess he was 
indolent and led away by social gravitation. Now that he had 
a man like Lyon over him who told him what to do, and who 
knew how, things seemed to go well and we got to liking him. 
No general of the Civil War had a better start than our Colonel, 
but he made poor use of his advantages, as we shall see. 

On June 26th our cartridge-boxes were inspected ; we were all 
supplied with forty rounds each, and with fifty percussion caps 
in our cap-boxes. The cartridges were tough paper with big 
charges of coarse black powder; the ball was a "minie" bullet, 
weighing an ounce, conical at the front and with a cavity in the 
rear filled (in the cartridge) with a conical wooden plug, so that 
when we rammed one down with our concave-pointed steel ram- 
rods the ball was spread so as to tightly fit the smooth-bore 
barrel. The ball was somewhat errant in its flight, but if it hit 
a man at the distance of a mile it paralyzed him. The shooter 
had time to recover from the "kick" by the time he had got the 



136 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

gun reloaded. We bit off the end of the cartridge with our teeth ; 
when doing so we always got a few grains of powder in our mouth, 
and as the taste was not unpleasantly peculiar, we chewed the 
paper which we had bitten off, and by the time we had fired a 
few times we had a good wad of paper in our mouths which we 
would chew as a school-girl would chew gum. The cartridge- 
box when loa.ded weighed four pounds. We were now told that 
the cartridges did not belong to us but to the Government, and 
that if we wasted anj^ of them we would be charged 10 cents 
each. We were also told that we would be held responsible for 
their getting wet. And that a record would be kept of all we 
were ordered to fire, and that if we fired one without orders it 
would be charged to us. We were also told that ammunition 
was scarce, and that we must be careful, and that anyone will- 
fully wasting any or stealing any w^ould go under guard and suf- 
fer on the payroll besides. 

Upon this day our company was paid for its State service; 
that is, for its service prior to being mustered into the United 
States service by Captain Chambers. The amount which was 
paid to me was $9.15. I still had some little money, and my 
blue-gray satinet hunting-shirt uniform, which we called a 
''waumus," being somewhat ragged, I concluded to get me a 
good durable woolen overshirt. It w^as coarse and gray and 
strong, and cost me three dollars. My Government ought to" 
have furnished it, l^ut my Government was having a mighty 
tough time of it just then, from Cape May to Kansas, trying to 
keep alive, and was not able to do much for the boys. The 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 137 

rebels had got the first and best of everything. They liad liad 
the Government for many years, and we were forced to wait. 
This night Corporals Bill and Churubusco (both now reduced to 
the ranks) determined to try the theory in regard to stopping a 
mule from braying at midnight; so we got tough sections of a 
coffee-bag and put in about five pounds of sand, and with a 
tough cord proceeded to make two weights, one each for the two 
mules. Our comrade Grimes professed to understand mule na- 
ture, and wanted to go with us and do the skilled labor of the 
enterprise; we said "nay," but let him go along. The job was 
accomplished without any trouble whatever, at about 11:45 
p. M. In a little while the boss mule named ''Smollix" got 
restive ; then he stood on his hind feet; then he stood on his fore 
feet and kicked holes in the atmosphere ; then he got frantic and 
squealed. Then he broke loose and reared and pawed the air, 
then stood on his fore feet and looked at the horizon from be- 
tween his knees. Such an acrobatic mule I had never up to 
that time seen, although since that time I have ridden them while 
they were thus engaged. We called on Grimes to quiet the mule ; 
the number of bystanders was becoming- numerous, and Grimes 
with simple and unblended intrepidity proceeded to accomplish 
the job. We stood back and watched him. The crowd gath- 
ered, and up came the officer of the day, and the major, and at 
last the teamster. AVe went to bed while the circus was going 
on, having full confidence in the ultimate success of Grimes. 
Finally the sack was amputated from the mule's tail, and Grimes 
went to the guard-house declaring that he was ''too much of a 



138 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

gentleman to tell who the damn scoundrels were who put up the 
job." We listened from our tent, and hcarhig no loud, sonorous 
braying characteristic of the former midnight performance, pro- 
nounced the former statement of Corporal Churubusco to be 
philosophic and truthful, and the experiment a successful sci- 
entific achievement. And we sympathized with Grimes — he 
was a gentleman, all right. 



CHAPTER 13. 

June 27t]i. — Inspection of Arms. — Brogans and Socks. — Mess Assignments. 
— Revolvers. — Skirmish Drill. — Boonville Petition. — June 28th. — Dis_ 
loyal Officers. — Captain under Ban. — Company not Fooled.^Rain. — 
Tents not Good. — June 29th. — Inspection of Ammunition. — Fatigue 
Duty. — Boonville Exhibition Drills. — Captain and the Hog. — Indig- 
nation Meetings. — What the Field Officers Said. — The Captain Goes. — 
Lieutenant takes Command. — June 30th. — Regimental Muster. — The 
Ration. — -Wagon Train Deficient. — The Yellowstone. Steamboat. — The 
Pioneer and Trapper. — The Soldier of 1812. — "Soldier, will you work?" 

On June 27th we had a grand inspection of arms. Every 
man was carefully examined as to his physical condition and as 
to his arms and ammunition. It was an exceedingly thorough 
inspection by officers appointed by Lyon from the regular army. 
The condition of our guns and ammunition was minutely scru- 
tinized. I also made on this day one of the greatest business 
transactions of my life. I found a man who had drawn a smaller 
pair of feet than myself and I traded my French calf boots for a 
new pair of shoes to be bought for me at the store in Boonville. 
The Government had no shoes to issue to us, so we did the best 
we could. I went up town and picked out a strong, substantial 
l)air of 'Mjrogans," had the inside pegs rasped down and the soles 
pounded flat inside and out. I also bought two pairs of home- 
woven, country-made wool socks. I was now ready for the field. 
This was the first pair of shoes that I had ever worn ; had always 
worn boots. Our mess also prepared for the campaign by as- 

(139) 



140 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

signing to each the duty of carrying something for common use. 
One carried a razor, another a httle looking-glass. I carried the 
needles and thread, another the deck of cards, and so on. As 
we honed our razor on Bill's boots, we carried nothing for that. 
Several of us had nice revolvers ; these were taken away and we 
were told that we must rely upon our muskets and bayonets. 
We were still without corporals, and as no one would take the 
offices, men were detailed from time to time to act as corporals. 
We saw not much of our captain. The fortifications at Boon- 
ville were finished, and were strong. The people there were 
with us, owing to the large German population. Many of these 
Germans were employed in the various civil branches of cam- 
paign service because they could be trusted. They were in the 
commissary and quartermaster's departments, and as mechanics. 
Our company drill attracted much attention, and Colonel Bates 
said that our skirmish drill was admitted to be the best of any of 
the troops. Disinterested people said we beat the regulars. 
The people of Boonville got up a petition to Lyon asking that if 
any men could be spared to guartl the town when he went away 
that he leave the First Iowa Infantry there. We felt compli- 
mented, but said "No." We wanted to go with Lyon and take 
part in the campaign. 

On June 28th it rained so hard from sunrise to noon that we 
stayed in our tents and read up the army news. The whole 
country North and South was seething. A civil war was a new 
thing. It was not capable of being handled upon the same prin- 
ciples and in the same way as an ordinary war against an outside 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 141 

enemy. Men were getting into the army on account of a thirst 
for office, and wearing shoulder-straps, who did not care a snap 
wliich side won. Of course they were not many; they were here 
and there, but they were a very dangerous lot. I was afterwards 
in a regiment whose colonel, named H. H. Heath, of Dubuque, 
Iowa, was one of these untrustworthy officers, and who fell under 
the ban of the soldiers. After the war, the correspondence of 
this man Heath was found in the rebel archives, in which he had 
offered to Jeff Davis to go South and fight for secession if he 
could be made a general. This letter was smuggled through 
the lines to the South, and was long afterwards read on the floor 
of Congress. This sort of officers could fool the people above, 
them; they could generally deceive their superior officers, but 
they could never deceive the men. The soldiers were loyal; 
they were not in for the purpose of getting office, they were in 
to put down the rebellion. Every company had men who were 
Ijrightcr and abler than all their officers, and these men, though 
only musket-bearers, were the real leaders of the company. 
They were the ones who made up the mind of the company and 
gave it its excellence. There were three or four of the officers of 
our regiment who fell under the ban, when our thre'e-months 
service extended to four ; and after we were mustered out these 
officers never reentered the service. Among those who fell under 
the ban was our captain. We began to discuss him on June 
28th. He said something that gave rise to it. He was from 
P)altinM_)re, that had mobbed a Massachusetts regiment. He 
was from a slave State. He had no devotion to his task. We 



142 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

talked it over in the tents. We were about to start out and 
fight the rebel General Price, and we all agreed that the captain 
would get the first bullet if he did not stand up loyally to the 
work. No company officer can fool his men. They soon com- 
pare notes and discuss him, and in a very short time they know 
him better than he knows himself. The company is accurate, 
and is never fooled on its officers. 

It cleared off in the afternoon, and our company went out to 
give an exhibition drill under the command of our orderly ser- 
geant, Jo Utter. This drill was gone through on the theory that 
if we got into an engagement and the officers were killed off the 
non-connnissioned officers would have to take command and 
they must know" how. We found out that Jo Utter, our first 
sergeant, was as capable to command and drill the company as 
the captain. We all liked Utter. Our drill was watched by a 
large number of the regulars, and when we came in they cheered 
us. That night it rained all night. Our tents w^ere light, per- 
haps six-ounce duck. We were drenched through. The tents 
could not keep out the water. They were such as had been 
hastily made from material such as the Government could get, 
in St. Louis, and were entirely unsuited to a campaign. The 
secesh had got all of the heavy duck. 

On June 29th the sun rose hot and powerful. We got out 
and dried ourselves and everything. We did not get fires burn- 
ing until about noon. We worked arountl and munched wet 
crackers ; we lost much of our mess rations, but we had kept our 
ammunition dry. At ten o'clock we had an inspection of am- 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 143 

nmiiition. The company was drawn up in lino, and the aniniu- 
iiition was carefully examined to see if it had been wet. Two or 
three of the boys had been careless, so their damaged ammuni- 
tion was charged up to them on the payroll and they were put 
on fatigue duty besides. Fatigue duty in this camp was quite 
severe. There were lots of hard work to do and the bosses were 
unsympathetic. At noon the captain announced that after din- 
ner (in those days "dinners" were at noon) our company would 
go uptown and give an exhibition drill, at the request of the 
citizens. At two p. m. we started. The captain wore his can- 
teen. We drilled all sorts of drill to a great crowd, out on a wide 
strip of vacant property, of which there was much then in Boon- 
ville. Twice some German citizens invited the captain to march 
us down to a near beer-saloon and get a glass of beer, which was 
done, and then we took hold again at our drill with renewed 
energy and purpose. The throng gathered and they cheered us 
much. Finally the drill ended and our captain was drunk. The 
weather was hot and his canteen had got the best of him. We 
started back to camp ; it must have been over two miles (I am 
guessing), and the big crowd was following us back to the heart 
of the city. A big hog lying asleep in the dog-fennel by the 
road jumped up frightened, and, with a snort, cut up some 
capers. The captain drew his sword and started after that hog; 
both were soon in the rear; the race was a close one and the 
crowd yelled. We felt exceedingly disgraced, but marched on, 
looking neither to the right nor left. The captain yelled halt at 
us, and kept after the hog, but our First Lieutenant said,'' For- 



144 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

ward!" That is the last that I ever remember of seeing the 
captain. We reached our camp and broke ranks, and each tent 
was filled with an indignation meeting. It was felt to be a 
burning disgrace. We had lost out on Boonville, where the peo- 
ple had wanted us to stay. The feeling was so bitter that if the 
captain had been there the boys would have torn his uniform 
off. We formed our plans, and they were carried out as follows : 
We went to the Colonel's tent and related the facts concerning 
the Captain, and our deep mortification thereat, and stated our 
belief that he was secesh. The Colonel listened without interest, 
and when we closed he asked, "Did he catch the hog?" I 
turned in disgust, and my associates followed — the Colonel's 
question was not answered. We then went to the Lieutenant- 
Colonel and told our story. He said, "I am not in command of 
this regiment." We then went to the Major, and when we had 
finished he said, "The d — n fool." We then went to the Ad- 
jutant, a little, lean, brainy, sensible young man, and told our 
story. He said: "I cannot act; if you have got anything to 
ssij, put it in writing; file your charges." 

I have often wondered how the officers of that period got such 
bad cases of swell-head. It was perhaps because they were no- 
bodies when they went in. Men must get acclimated to power 
or they will handle it foolishly. Power, unless it comes slowly, 
spoils its possessor. Men and families must become acclimated 
to power the same as to wealth, or it will make fools of them, or 
lead them into disgrace. Here it was, in our regiment, that the 
field officers could not listen to and redress a flagrant jnilitary 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 145 

wrong. They could not do the right and proper thing. They 
were ahve only to the subjects of their own separate im- 
portances. They could not get down low enough to do a private 
soldier justice. Grant could, and Sherman could, and Thomas 
could, and Lee could, and so could other great generals. Our 
field officers were not Grants, Shermans, Thomases, or Lees, and 
hence we never have since heard of them, and their names do 
not appear in history, and ought not to. We were disgusted. 

Somebody must have told General Lyon. Probably he got 
it from the people of Boonville. Nobody knows; we never 
knew. The records of the War Department show the following: 
"George F. Streaper, absent in arrest in Keokuk since July 1, 
186L" The above sentence is on the August muster-rolls of the 
regiment. It is probable that he was put onto a steamboat and 
hustled off. There was a rumor afterwards that Streaper got 
into a Missouri militia regiment, as Second Lieutenant, and quit 
in January, 1862, after three months' service, to go South and 
j(jin the Confederacy, which was at that time in the ascendant. 

All at once the First Lieutenant, Abercrombie, asserted him- 
self. He had sort of been in the background. He had been 
handicapped by the jealousy, envy and dislike of the Captain. 
The Captain had been snubbing him, and keeping him dormant. 
He now announced that he was in command of the company ; 
he restored all the corporals. We began to get care and atten- 
tion. The boys began to appreciate him, and no company in 
the service had a better commander. That he afterwards be- 
came one of the famous Iowa colonels was a natural sequence. 



146 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

He was kindly and was very brave, and shirked nothing. / was 
now even on the Macon guard-house incident. Good-by, Strea- 
per; you were one of the thousands of worthless officers whom 
we had to unload before we could put down the rebellion. For- 
tunately the South had the same trouble — even worse. 

On Sunday, June 30th, 1861, the regiment was mustered in 
the forenoon, every man in complete equipment; every man in 
the hospital who could stand in line was there — such was the 
order; it was the annual muster. It seems that at the end of 
the fiscal year, on June 30th, there must be a complete report of 
the army. The men on that day present for duty, togcth(n" with 
a complete inspection, must be reported to the War Department. 

At this time our rations, while not quite up to the army 
standard, were excellent in quality; we lived on bread, beef- 
steak, and coffee. In fact, over our objection pork had not been 
pushed on us, and we drew only a limited amount of it for cook- 
ing purposes. An army ration at that time was as follows: 

12 oz. pork or bacon, or in lieu thereof 20 oz. fresh or salt beef. 
22 oz. soft bread or flour, or 20 oz. corn-meal, or 16 oz. " hard-tack." 

15 lbs. beans or peas to 100 rations 

10 lbs. rice or hominy 

10 lbs. green or 8 lbs. roasted coflfee 

Tn lieu of coffee, 24 oz. of tea 

15 lbs. of sugar 

1 gallon of vinegar 

20 oz. star candles 

4 lbs. soap 

60 oz. of salt 

4 oz. pepper 

1 quart of molasses 

30 lbs. of potatoes [when practicable] 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 147 

The foregoing were the regular rations, but we never got all 
of them even when in camp, and on the march we got what we 
coukl get. The cost of a Government ration then was 15 cents, 
and while in camp at Boonville we commuted a lot of things, but 
when we got into the field we took what was issued and foraged 
for the rest. General Lyon did not have one-half of such a 
wagon-train as he wanted or reciuired, but he could not wait 
longer, and was obliged to do the best he could with such a train 
as he had hastily organized. 

On this day, June 30th, I was down at the river swimming, 
when I saw a steamboat coming down. All at once a blank shot 
was fired at it from one of our cannon and the boat rounded 
to; it was the ''Spread Eagle" from the Yellowstone. I went 
aboard; it was piled full of buffalo-hides and beaver-skins, and 
valuable furs. Aboard the boat were some tough-looking, long- 
haired trappers in buckskin clothes and moccasins. They had 
just heard of the war. These were adventurous days. Here 
was a boat that had gone up the Missouri river two thousand 
miles loaded down with fort supplies and Indian goods; had 
stayed all winter among the Indians and been frozen in; and 
come down the next summer. In those days pioneering and 
trapping were profitable. An industrious trapper could clear 
$2,500 a year or more. One of Daniel Boone's grandsons told 
me that he cleared an average of $5000 per year, but that it was 
a hard and dangerous life. It must be remembered that at that 
time Iowa was a frontier State, full of Government land, and so 
was Missouri, and the great plains were covered with buffalo. 



148 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

On this day we wore visited by an old man who had been a 
soldier in the War of 1812; and this brings to mind that we had 
been also visited at Keokuk and at Macon City by men who were 
in that war. How strange it is! These men were hale and 
hearty men of from 65 to 70 years old. They all told army 
stories of that old war. But the stories were not new to us : we 
had heard them as of the Mexican War; we afterwards told 
them as of the Civil War; and I have since heard them of the 
Spanish War. They will not do to print in this particular book, 
and have probably been handed down from ancient days. Here 
is an illustration: "Soldier, will you work? No, I'll sell my 
shirt first." Another old story which has gone through all of 
our wars is the one about the sentinel who halted the intoxicated 
officer at night. "Who comes there?" inquires the sentinel. 
"You idiot," says the officer, "Advance, you idiot, and give 
the countersign," replies the sentinel. 

Another is the inquiry of the General before a battle begins 
as to the presence of some petty officer. In the Revolutionary 
War it was Ensign O'Donnel. Before surrendering, Cornwallis 
asked if Ensign O'Donnel was in the opposing forces. On being 
told by Washington that he was, Cornwallis said, "Then I sur- 
render." In the War of 1812 the commanding officer always 
asked, before he gave battle, whether Corporal O'Neil was pres- 
ent. During the Civil War the story started in on Sergeant 
O'Brien, and has been retold as to Santiago, Manila, and Pekin. 
It is probably as old as Rome, or may have started with the battle 
of Cunaxra, where Cyrus, riding to the front of Zenophon's 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 149 

Greek army corps, may have asked, ''Is Phylax Orion present?" 
"He is, sor," says Orion, stepping to tlie front and placing his 
hand upon his breast. "Then," says Cyrus, "let the battle of 
Cunaxra begin." This story always has a man whose name, as 
the hero, begins with "0." I first heard my grandfather tell 
the story as of the War of 1812. 



CHAPTER 14. 

July 1, 1861. — Claib Jackson and Stump Price. — Boasting. — Bucked and 
Gagged. — Regular Officers. — Trouble. — Want to Fight Regulars. — " Ous 
mid your Guns." — Punishment. — Deserting. — Comet. — July 2d. — Camp 
Jackson material. — The 32-pounder. — Jim Lane. — List of Troops. — 
Osterhaus. — Totten. — Clothing. — Order of Companies. — No Favors. — - 
Insufficient Train. — Ready to Start. 

It is Now July 1st, nearly two months after the Camp Jack- 
son affair at kSt. Louis; all Missouri is arming. We now in 
camp hear much about the battle of Boonville; the story is 
fully published. The secesh did not make much of a fight, but 
ran like a lot of recruits. Men who were in the battle are now 
appearing and talking about the fight from the secesh side. They 
curse Governor Claib Jackson, and Stump Price. "Stump" 
Price is the son of General Sterling Price, C. S. A. Price was a 
veteran of the Mexican War and lived near Brunswick, in 
Chariton county, Missouri, and was wheedled into the Con- 
federate service. His son was vain, ambitious, and ordinary; 
he never amounted to anything. Twenty years after the war 
I was at Jefferson City, Missouri, and heard several talk about 
how they held Lyon level at Boonville, and how they were 
only overcome by preponderance of numbers and artillery. 
The South cannot boast over the Civil War. They started it 
with great advantages on their side. They ought to have won, 
and had no doubt when they started it but that they would. 
And they were eager to start l3ecause they were read}'. 

(1.50) 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 151 

We were camped beside a command of regulars. They were 
a lot of toughs, and loved to tell us boys long yarns about their 
Indian service. This afternoon on their parade-ground there 
was a man "bucked and gagged," with a guard walking 
back and forth in view of all. We had never seen that sort 
of thing before, and we flocked around. An officer whose face 
was a silent yet earnest appeal to us to kick him, came and 
ordered us off the ground. We greatly despised the young 
regular army officers. They were snobs of the first water. 
They had been pointed out to us and named. This one was 
the son of a senator and that one of a governor, and so on, 
and so on. They had jaunty and effeminate ways about them : 
for instance, one led around by a string a dwarf terrier; one 
wore a monocle. I had never seen a monocle before, except in 
comic pictures. The older and superior officers seemed to be 
of nuich better and higher stamp. When the officer ordered 
us off we did not go, and we threatened to unloose the man; 
we told him that the}^ might do that to regulars but that they 
could not do that sort of thing to free American citizens. The 
officer pulled out his sword and stamped around, and we jeered 
at him and hollowed, "Unloose the man!" The officer whirled 
and went to his regimental line, and soon appeared with about 
a dozen men with fixed bayonets, and they started for us. 
We I'an to our company ground and were in line in a minute 
with fixed bayonets, under the connnands of corporals Bill and 
Churubusco. We did not want anything better than to show 
somebody an exercise in fencing with the bayonet. We started, 



152 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

and ran over our non-commissioned officers, but the major and 
the adjutant got in front of us, and several otlier officers, swear- 
ing and yelling; this brought us slowly to a halt. We wanted 
to discuss the matter; we were so certain that we could clean 
out the regulars that we wanted a show._ We could undoubtedly 
have done it and released the man. While in this shape, in be- 
tween us and the regulars marched our twin company, the 
Dutch company, in charge of Captain JVIatthies. The captain 
is said to have yelled in his camp, '' Ous mid your guns ; der d — n 
ploody Sou-oufs (Zouaves) machs a fight." After that it was 
the word of command, and the saying — ''Ous mid your guns." 

We were right, the punishment of the man was inhuman; it 
does more harm than good to punish a man with unnecessary 
and conspicuous prominence. It ruins the soldier. To buck 
and gag a man and put him out in that condition on the parade- 
ground for every one to see is the end of soldierly qualities in 
the man. After that he becomes ambitious to be a tough. 
Some of those little petty lieutenants seemed to think that 
it magnified their importance to treat a man that way. After 
such an ordeal a man is justified in deserting, and the service is 
benefitted by his going. 

A comet appeared on the night of July 1st. It had not been 
seen the night before, but on this night it blazed out and stretched 
its tail out over nearly half the sky. "Ah," said Corporal 
Churubusco, "now we are going to have war for sure." We 
watched it with interest; I do not know what comet it was, 
but astronomers can tell. "By the way the tail of that comet 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 153 

points," said Corporal Churubusco, ''I know we are going to 
lick them." It went as a joke; there was no superstition in our 
company. 

On July 2d we got ready. The word was passed around tliat 
we would start to-morrow. The caissons of the artillery were 
filled with ammunition that had just arriA^ed. Only four steam- 
boats were at the Boonville wharf. A German soldier told me 
all about the Camp Jackson affair at St. Louis, and about the 
captures there. Among the captures were three 32-pounders, 
and a large quantity of bombs and artillery ammunition in ale- 
l)arrels. A battery (6 pieces) of brass field guns. A lot of iron 
cannon. Twelve hundred best U. S. rifled muskets, with a 
quantity of amnumition. Also a lot of muskets and artiller}^ 
taken apart and packed in heavy boxes and labeled "marble." 
Also swords, tents and camp equipage. This stuff came up 
from the South to start the rebellion with in St. Louis, most of 
it from the Baton Rouge Arsenal. The plot would have been 
successful if it had not been for Lyon, Blair and Boernstein 
and their men. The South got the start with 150,000 of the 
best muskets, while we had the old-fashioned guns and the 
leavings. They got a thousand of the best cannon for fort 
and field, and vast stores of ammunition and camp ecjuipage. 
We got the old and shop-worn stuff". AVhy the South did not 
achieve more is something which it will never be able to ex]:)lain 
to succeeding generations. The regulars and some of the other 
soldiers brought up by Lyon from St. Louis were armed with 
these captured guns. They were a magnificent arm, and were 



154 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

called "The Springfield rifled nuisket." Some were stamped 
"U. S. 1861." Lyon captured over a thousand ])risoners at 
Camp Jackson. 

Lyon had lately brought up to Boonville one of these cap- 
tured 32-pounders. There had been picked out eight horses to 
pull it, and it looked as if it might be a thing to rely on. A 
squad drilled constantly with the gun. A trial shot was fired 
from it over into the Missouri river bottoms, and great was the 
sound thereof; when the shell burst some seconds thereafter 
we felt greatly comforted by the thought that we would have 
such a valuable ally. A fleet of steamboats went up the river, 
destined, so it was said, for Fort Leavenworth. We heard of 
Jim Lane in Kansas, and that he was organizing assistance 
for us. 

All along up to this date we had called Lyon a "Colonel." 
From and after we left Boonville we called him "General." 
The troops now under his command were as I remember it and 
as my memorandums show, as follows : 

First Mo. Infantry, under Col. Frank P. Blair. 

Second Mo. Infantry, under Col. Henry Boernstein. 

First Iowa Infantry, under Col. J. F. Bates. 

James Totten's Battery, 2d V. S. Artillery. 

Co. B, Second V. S. Infantry (Lyon's old company). 

200 regular army unassigned recruits in a separate connnand. 

I have already spoken of Col. Blair; the boys got to liking 
him very much; Bill Heustis gave him the name of the "Be- 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 155 

jesus colonel." I can remember but little of Col. Bocrnstein, 
but I well remember the major of his regiment, Major Peter 
J. Osterhaus. He had a voice like a trumpet, and sometimes 
gave his orders in German and sometimes in English, both 
of which languages he spoke very well. He afterwards became 
one of our best major-generals. Totten's battery was called 
a light battery. It consisted of six guns, each pulled by six 
horses. The guns were smooth-bore brass 12-pounders, muzzle- 
loading. The principal sergeant seemed to be a little short, 
bellicose Irishman. Totten seemed to always carry a canteen 
of brandy. His commands were usually given in a lurid and 
sonorous manner. The first two that I heard him give would 
])erhaps illustrate his manner during the campaign. ''Forward 
that caisson, G — d d — n you, sir," — ''Swing that piece into line, 
G — d d — n you, sir." Any soldier in our regiment would walk 
a half-mile any time to listen to him five minutes. He was 
wide awake, and there was no discount on his bravery. Some 
of the Second Missouri were down the road guarding towns 
and bridges; whether they rejoined their regiment in time to 
start with us south I do not know for certain, but think that 
they did not. Perhaps only a small part of the Second Mis- 
souri went with us. 

Regarding the First Iowa, I may here say that they had 
begun to look tough. In the first place, no two companies 
were uniformed alike. Each company had a difTerent shape 
of clothes and in different colors; some had jackets and some, 



156 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

lik(> our company, had long-tailed coats, but of different styles 
and colors. We had enlisted in April and it was now July; the 
uniforms were in bad condition, torn and ragged. In addition 
to this, many uniforms had been completely worn out and the 
boys had bought what they could get, or had got new things 
from home, or in their stead clothes from home already partially 
worn. It was a motley crew. General Lyon could not supply 
us. We had been inspected for shoes, and about a dozen of 
the boys who had the worst pairs were sent with orders uptown 
and got shoes. Boonville was quite a small town, and I suppose 
that the quartermaster had bought or impressed all the shoes 
the stores had for sale. That afternoon we were drawn up in 
line and told to get ready for a march. Our place in the regi- 
ment was fixed by the order of companies as follows : The 
companies were arranged by letter as follows : A, F, D, I, C, H, 
E, K, G, B. These letters were taken by the captains in the 
order of the date of their commissions. Co. ''A" was the high- 
est in rank and had its place on the right of the regiment. Co. 
''B" was next and was on the left, and so on. Our company 
supposed that it was to be the color company, but we were not 
made Company "C" and hence did not get the honor. 

The origin of the various companies of the First Iowa In- 
fantry was the following cities : 

Co. "A" Muscatine. Co. ''F" Mount Pleasant. 

'^B" Iowa City. '^G" Davenport. 

'T" Muscatine. ''H" Dubuque. 

"D" Burlington. "I" Dubuque. 

"E" Burlington. "K" Cedar Rapids. 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 157 

Some of the companies had separate names, as follows : 

Company "D," Burlington Rifles. 

Company "E/' Burlington Zouaves. 

Company "F," Mount Pleasant Grays. 

Company "H," Wilson Guards. 

Company "1/' Governor's Grays. 

The Iowa regiment boys were all about alike : tliey were 
ragged and saucy and their three months were up in July, and 
they did not want to go home without a fight. There became 
the greatest fraternity among them. We did not associate 
much with the other soldiers outside of our regiment. The 
latter had come from St. Louis, the source of supply, and were 
much better dressed than we were, and better armed and ac- 
coutered than we. Where we beat them was on drill and fiber. 
Nevertheless, General Lyon had his misgivings and did not 
grant us any favors, and we did not take very kindly to him. 
We felt that he was neglecting us and was playing favorites. 
In the evening it was circulated that Lyon was discouraged 
about his transportation and could not get half enough. It 
was said that he could not wait any longer, and that he must 
start and depend largely upon the country. He had no clothing 
for his men, only a small supply of bacon, and not half enough 
breadstuffs. It took seven wagon-loads a day to feed the men. 
Only one two-horse wagon was allowed to each company. 
This one wagon nmst haul the company property, consisting of 
tents, cooking utensils, the company desk, three days' rations, 
the sick, and forage for the team. There were no hospital ar- 
rangements worthy of the name. It was stated that Lyon had 



158 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

ordered a large supply of rations and clothing sent to him by 
the way of Rolla to meet us at Springfield, and that if we ever 
got there we would be well supplied. Our destination was said 
to be Springfield, Missouri. 

During the night it rained and blew a gale. Everything, was 
soaked. 

The rumor was that we would pursue and try to capture 
General Sterling Price before he could be reinforced from the 
South. 



CHAPTER 15. 

July 3d.— The Start.— The Ovation.— The Boys.— The Howitzer.— The 
Regulars. — "The Happy Laitd of Canaan." — Weight of Baggage. — The 
March. — Some Nourishment. — July 4th. — Early March. — Fatigue Duty. 
— The Missouri Mule. — Number of Slaves. — The Camp. — Mulberries. — ■ 
Supper. — -Sturgis. — July 5th. — Rain. — Bad Roads. — Tents Dumped. — 
Rations Shortened. — Lize. 

On July 3rd we started. We were filled with rumors. 
There were always 500 cavalry right over the hill, or down in 
the timber, or somewhere. Finally the number of troops in 
front of us grew until rumor fixed them at 15,000 drawn up and 
in camp within 100 miles or nearer, awaiting our advance. This 
news was nearly correct, but Bill Heustis changed it around so 
that it became 100 troops within 15,000 miles of us, and there it 
stayed for c^uite a while. We marched out of Boonville in the 
mud, with drums beating and flags floating. Old men and good- 
looking girls in long cavalcades escorted us far out of town on 
horseback, riding on the side of the road. In those days, in 
Missouri, every woman owned a horse, and knew how to ride it. 
They gave us a great ovation. And the little boys ran along 
beside us in gangs; on their caps were the letters "C. S." or 
''U. S." They were playing war, and had sticks and would hit 
one another promiscuously. Some represented the Confederates 
and some the United States. The boys followed us out more 
than a mile. The letters indicated the sentiments of their 

(159) 



160 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

mothers; women arc always patriotic. I will not say that if 
there were no women there would be no war, but if there is a 
war they help fight it. 

When we got out of town we struck west. The roads were 
muddy; we were put right behind the regulars. They were 
nicely dressed and finely armed and equipped, and looked like 
soldiers, and they stepped off with vigor. After we got out of 
town we came to a slight ravine where there was a log bridge, 
and in there was the 32-lb. howitzer. It had broken down the 
bridge. A long rope was handed out and we all pulled, that 
could get hold, but we could not move the howitzer. There it 
stuck and stayed; we never saw it afterwards. We marched 
five miles west, then struck southwest over as beautiful a prairie 
upland as one would wish to see. After marching ten miles we 
stopped and took lunch, and then started on again southwest. 
The country became more muddy and the walking became harder 
and more tiresome. We supposed that it was our duty to keep 
up with the regulars, and so w^e trod on their coat-tails all day, 
and so when one of them stopped to tie his shoe he fell back into 
our ranks at least 200 feet. And we sung ''The Happy Land of 
Canaan" every horn* and sang it fifteen minutes on a stretch. 
We wanted to show the regulars that we could stay with them. 
They did not like our style very well, but we liked theirs and 
wanted to associate with them ; we kept ready to run over them 
all day long. The village of Pilot Grove was on the route. The 
stuff we carried was as follows : Gun, 9 pounds, plus ; cartridge- 
box, cap-pouch, belt, bayonet and scabbard, 6 pounds; one day's 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 161 

rations and haversack, 3| pounds; blanket, 3 pounds; canteen, 
filk'd, 3i pounds. Total 25 pounds, plus. When evening came 
we had marched 15 miles through the mud, carrying our 25 
pounds, and drew up on a side-hill, to camp; but our wagons 
were far away in the distance behind us. We sat down on the 
grass to wait; there was neither wood nor water. I was tired, 
too tired to eat. I munched hard-tack and thought of home and 
wished that the war would end when Secretary of State Seward 
said it would. He put it at ninety days, and the time was about 
up. It began to rain. I wrapped myself up in my blanket and 
went to sleep. About midnight I was awakened by old Mace. 
I looked around; the boys were sleeping every- which- way on 
the side-hill; they were in no lines or ranks or order; they had 
just gone to sleep where they lit. There were no camp-fires. 
I could hear the mules giving their midnight bray down on the 
creek about a mile off. A sentinel was walking about a hun- 
tlred yards from me, back and fro. "Massa Link," said old 
Mace, "I dun brought you some nourishment." He had a tin 
cup and some liquid in it which I thought was coffee or beef 
soup. I took it and tossed it down at a gulp. It choked, burned 
and gagged me. It was an eighth of a cpart of whisky. I could 
not get my breath ; I rolled over in the grass ; I thought I would 
turn wrong side out. My stomach telegraphed back that it was 
very much surprised. I gasped and flounced around in the grass 
and wet. I finally got my breath back by installments. Some 
of the "nourishment" had got into my lungs and some into my 
eyes, ears and nose. The whisky was the old-fashioned high- 



162 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

proof stuff that in those days went by the name of ''40-rod." 
I never had taken such a drink as that in my hfe. Old Mace 
looked on with perfect astonishment and witnessed my elaborate 
contortions; he had always lived down South, and had never 
seen a man before make a wry face when he took a drink. He 
excused himself and disappeared in the darkness. The nourish- 
ment began to nourish, and I laughed at the whole matter with 
a wan and lonesome snicker, and found that I could eat a cracker, 
and I sat up and ate and ate until I had eaten up all I had. Then 
I curled down between the loose limestone float-rock on the side- 
hill as happy a man as there was in Lyon's army. I took oft' 
my shoes and socks, looked up. at the sky, said ''Good-by, old 
mundane," and was sound asleep in a minute. 

On July 4th we were awakened at 3:30 a. m. Lyon was 
an early riser. The moment we got started on the campaign 
he got us up as early as half-past three, and sometimes earlier. 
On this morning, the glorious Fourth of July, our company was 
detailed as train-guard and on "fatigue duty" as it was called, 
with the regimental wagons. There were twelve wagons, one 
for each company and two for regimental headcjuarters and 
staff. Our duties were to assist the driver when he ran out of 
profanity, also to pull back on the wagons when they went down- 
hill, to push on them when they went uphill, and to help across 
streams and mud-holes. There is no animal on earth like the 
Missouri mule. He has no superior, no equal. His strength is 
superfluous and inexhaustible. He will i)ull until he drops. He 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 163 

enjoys profanity, likes a joke, and is a good judge of men. He 
helped us save the Union. 

We were permitted to get our principal burdens into the wag- 
ons while we were with them that day. We passed a hard and 
active day getting the wagons over the deep and muddy swales 
on the line of march. We did not always follow the road, at 
least not any main traveled road; often we were out on the 
prairie without a road. There were few fences along the route. 
We passed through Pleasant Green. 

Yesterday and to-day we went through a most beautiful coun- 
try. On this day we marched 19 miles to the southwest; at 
noon we crossed a prong of the La Mine (pronounced by the 
people Lah Meen). We struck a well-settled country, but all 
secesh; and all houses vacant, except as held by some two or 
three old negro women. Every valuable negro had been run 
off to keep him from being taken and freed. There were at this 
time in Missouri 115,000 slaves, by actual count, and they were 
very useful in opening up the new country. Most of them were 
north of the Missouri river, which made that portion of the State 
so strongly anti-Union. South Missouri had very few slaves. 

As we made an early start, and went only 19 miles, we got into 
camp about the middle of the afternoon. Our regiment all 
camped together near a beautiful little running stream. The 
prairie-grass was deep and dense; we got together and did not 
take our tents out of the wagons; we wanted to sleep out of 
doors, for the afternoon was dry and pleasant. Mulberry trees 
were very plenty on the stream; Jim Smith and I got all the 



164 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

mulberries we wanted. Then, seeing a house off about a mile, 
we concluded we would go to it and buy a bowl of bread and 
milk. We got our guns and walked over to the house. It was 
a fine large plantation house. On the porch was a fat old negress 
weighing about two hundred and fifty; she was apparently 
75 years of age. I said, "Grandnianimy, I want a bowl of bread 
and milk." She said, ''We doan got no bread nor no milk in 
the house." I said, ''Grandmammy, we want something to eat 
and will pay for it." We believed that although Uncle Sam's 
laws did not go into Secessia his currency would. She then went 
and got some buttermilk and sweetened it with molasses and 
got a lot of cold corn-bread. We took supper. She charged us 
fifteen cents each, which we paid. She said that all of the folks 
were off celebrating the fourth of July, and had taken off about 
everything that was eatable, and that she was the only person 
around the place, and that the negroes were all gone, too. She 
said that the boss had three sons. She would not admit that 
any of them were in the rebel army. We believed they wei"e at 
that time in the brush. 

Our regiment had been walking on the coat-tails of the reg- 
ulars all day. The rear guard picks up all broken down, sick 
or played-out soldiers; on the march of to-day the rear guard 
picked up but six of our regiment, but picked up over 200 of the 
others. Nineteen miles was a pretty good march with the weight 
that had to be carried, and as the weather was hot some of the 
boys could not keep up. We found this night that we were try- 
ing to make a junction with General Sturgis. We had brought 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 165 



3000 men out of Boonville, and Sturgis was reported to have an 
equal number. He had left Kansas City on the 24th of June to 
find us. Eight thousand rebels were reported to be waiting for 
us. Jim Lane of Kansas was commissioned Brigadier-General 
on June 20tli, and was reported to be raising troops to support 
us; but he never arrived. 

We slept outdoors on the night of July 4th and looked up 
at the sky. We asked many questions of the silent stars and 
went to sleep. 

On the morning of July 5th we got up as usual, at 3 : 30. The 
beautiful little stream which we camped on was one of the head- 
waters of the river La Mine, a few miles west of where Sedalia 
was afterwards built. Soon after roll-call in the morning it 
began to rain. A^'e got our breakfast and started. Eight men 
and a corporal from each company were detailed to look after 
t\\o company wagons and get them through the mud. I was 
drawn on this detail, and we started in. We went all day in the 
rain; we doubled teams all along the line and pulled the wagons 
out of the deep rich mud. We managed by dint of an all-day's 
pull to get the train 12 miles. We kept our ammunition dry 
by putting our cartridge-boxes in the wagons under the cover 
while we worked. In one place our wagon got down in the mud 
to the axle and the mules to their bellies, and a wagon-boss from 
somewhere ordered us to lighten the wagon ; we tumbled out all 
of our damp, heavy, mouldy tents except the six best ones. 
Among the ones reserved was the tent of "Chicken Mess, No.l." 
^^'e dumped the balance of the tents, and never saw them after- 



166 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

wards. After that day I never slept in a tent during tlie whole 
campaign. Perhaps some of the rear wagons, unloaded of ra- 
tions, may have picked them up. In the ordinary course of 
l:)usiness we were emptying seven wagons a day by eating up 
the loads. The mud and sand got into our shoes so that it pol- 
ished the insides, but it wore our socks all out. That night I 
greased the inside of my shoes and put on my last }mir of socks 
and went to bed, but I had a whole lot of corns that had become 
very troublesome. We ran out of forage and we fed our mules 
what they could get. The prairie-grass was abundant and the 
mules were grazed, and we occasionally ran onto a field of oats 
and f(xl it right up. But corn was scarce, and the animals were 
not getting fed w(41 enough to get the full value of their services. 
Often on the route we boys with a strong rope hitched onto the 
tongue of a wagon, pulled nearly a hundred strong, and helpcnl 
both wagon and mules out of the mud. The command floun- 
dered through the mud all day. Our coffee rations held out and 
the hard-tack held out, but all the others went. The beans dis- 
appeared, and the rice was saved for the sick, the sugar vanished, 
and we went it on coffee, crackers, and beef. But that was 
enough, and we were satisficHl all around, and we had plenty of 
tobacco. These were hard but golden days, as we afterwards 
discovered. Our Keokuk company dogcss, '^Lize," had grown 
fat and saucy, and although she had lost none of her ill looks she 
had lost her timidity and become the pet of the company. 
Twelve miles was a good day's march under the circumstances, 
and we lay down at night very tired ; and although the sky was 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 167 

])acked with clouds and full of thunder and lightning-, it rained 
very little during the night. Everything was wet, but the air 
was warm and we slept all right. There was no difficulty in 
getting asleep and staying so. There was no care and no in- 
somnia. AVhat we wanted to do was to catch Price and end the 
war. During the night several shots were fired in the darkness 
on our pickets. 

We had been following the main wagon-road which ran from 
Boonville, the county seat of Cooper county, to Georgetown, 
which was then the county seat of. Pettis county. From George- 
town, this road, which was then the main thoroughfare of the 
country, ran southwest through the villages of Greenridge and 
Belmont to Clinton, the county seat of Henry county. The 
pi-esent town of Windsor, on the M. K. & T. R. R., stands as near 
as I can tell where Belmont then stood. 

It was at this point that the accordion which had decorated 
the stalwart form of S types was stricken with a fatal malady. 
Ever since we had left Boonville the accordion had been develop- 
ing pulmonary difficulties. Thcni something became the matter 
with its aorta. The keys, so to speak, would no longer unlock 
the entrances to its imprisoned music. Asthma set in. The 
(lami3 weather seemed only to augment its ailments. It finally 
perished from loss of glue. 



CHAPTER 16. 

July 6th. — Out-march Regulars. — 23-mile JMarch. — Lyon Disliked. — No 
Cavalry. — Beef Supi^ily Short. — July 7th .^Old Mace. — Distilleries. — ■ 
White Mule. — Vegetables. — Rebel Depot. — Sun Hot. — Regulars shed 
Knapsacks. — Reached Grand River. — Rebel Supply Depot. — Garden. — 
Sturgis's Command. — Pontoon Train. — Ferry Rope. — Corduroying Road. 
— The Crossing. — The Fire Guard. — Last of the Wamus. 

On the morning of July 6th the bugles roused us at 3:30. 
The sky cleared off; we got a hasty breakfast, and started be- 
fore sunrise. Our road went upon a high upland. The soil 
was firmer. The sun rose red-hot. We were this day put in 
the advance, with the regulars just l^ehind us, and we passed 
around the word to give the brigade a run for its money. In an 
hour there was a gap of half a mile behind us. In two hours 
there was a gap of a mile. Every hour we started up "The Happy 
Land of Canaan." The colonel stopped us every thirty minutes 
and gave us a breathing-spell, and as our successors heaved in 
view we struck right out again at a gait that could not be fol- 
lowed. When we started the colonel would shout ''Forward, 
Iowa!" The colonel got to attaching the name of the State 
to the command, and to us it sounded delightful. He would 
sing out ''Attention, Iowa!" and "Halt, Iowa!" On this day's 
march he worked this plan all day. Every once in a wdiile 
Lyon would send a courier to tell us to halt until the brigade 
could close up. We led the brigade 23 miles that day. It 

(168) 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 169 



was then on that day that Lyon gave us the name of the Iowa 
greyhounds, and said, ''There goes that d — d 'Happy Land of 
Canaan' agam." 

There are those who say that General Lyon did not use pro- 
fane language. As I had a brief controversy with him once 
along the road I know that he sometimes did. We, the people, 
always put our dead heroes on a pedestal and give them virtues 
which they did not have. Our regiment formed a great dis- 
like to Lyon upon this day. We never liked him much any- 
way, and just now he seemed cross and crabbed and to be find- 
ing fault with something, — said he would not put us in the front 
any more. We accomplished one purpose — we wore out the 
regulars and gave them to understand that we were the better 
men. 

Our route this day was south of west. We crossed two streams 
that were running bank-full; we took our shoes off and waded 
them. A more beautiful prairie country was never marched 
over. Several old men and ladies in carriages marched with 
us. They were said to be Union people who were getting out 
of the country with us. We had at this time no cavalry, but 
we had about a dozen men on horses who wore uniforms and a 
lot of civilians on horseback who were armed and seemed to be 
scouting around. They were a force of civilians, probably, 
that had been hired as scouts in lieu of cavalry. They were 
running around and bringing in somebody all the time. 

We have been seeing many mounted men in the distance, 
and are told by the negroes that all the able-bodied population 



170 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

has gone into the rebel army, and that Claib Jackson (Governor) 
has eight thousand of them just across the river south of us. 
We have cleaned out the country of beef cattle and have not 
got so very big a herd yet. One of our men who was detailed 
yesterday with the herd and who helped to drive them all day 
says that Lyon has not a week's supply of beef, and yet every 
animal is gathered in that can be seen and reached. On July 
5th General Sigel had his celebrated fight near Carthage, Mis- 
souri, but we did not hear of it until the 9th. General Sweeney, 
the brave Irishman, is in command down at Springfield. Cou- 
riers came in after dark and said that we would form a junction 
with General Sturgis within twenty-four hours. 

We went to bed feeling delightfully self-satisfied with our- 
selves. We had shown the whole brigade that we could out- 
march them. We were without doubt the chami)ions; nothing 
and nobody could walk away from us. What little things it 
takes to make. men happy! We did not think of our shabby 
clothing and our wretched armament ; we were happy because 
we could excel in something. 

The night was clear and balmy, and we looked up into the 
vast distances of the sky, counted the stars and mesmerized 
ourselves to sleep. 

July 7th, 1861, was an earnest day, very hot and very stren- 
uous. We were awakened at 3:30 in the morning. Old Mace 
had had a camp-kettle of beef boiling all night. In the morn- 
ing we took a heavy breakfast, put into our haversacks a 
chunk of the beef with hard-tack, drank a quart of hot coffee, 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 171 

and were ready for a big day's tramp. The life which Old Mace 
led was an ideal one for him. He had no gun to carry; no 
load; he was without responsil)ility. He walked with the 
wagons and dozed and took naps. He did not have to stand 
guard nor march with anybody. He was at home on any part 
of the line, and had only to keep ahead of the rear guard. He 
was used to heat antl hard labor, and so he came in at the end 
of the day's march as fresh as a daisy. He got about four 
hours of sleep at night and six more during the day. He always 
went with the wagons. All that he feared was a capture. He 
used to say: "They won't kill me, they'll captivate me. I'se 
wuf two thousand dollars. T'se done sold for that mo'n wonce." 
Darkies in those days took rank among themselves according 
to the value of actual sales. Mace's statement was perhaps 
the truth, for he was a large, substantial, capable African, 
with a good head on, and before the war negroes had been high. 
He was about forty years of age, and told some very strange 
and startling stories of the Mexican War, in which he was an 
officer's servant. At the time of which I speak he was prob- 
ably a "runaway," as fugitive slaves were then called. His 
services to our mess were invaluable. 

We were going through a country that was new. A large 
portion of the country was public domain. Stills for making 
whisky were frequent. They were very simple. The appara- 
tus, building and all, would not cost $500; the art could be 
k^arned in ten days. The whisky was clear as water, and the 
nam(,> given to it was "white-mule." The name probably came 



172 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

from the ''kick" which the hquor gave. The name did not origi- 
nate with the army, but was indigenous to the frontier, and 
spread rapidly. This native whisky was of high proof and 
starthngly effective. I think that the whisky Okl Mace gave 
me on the night of July 3rd was 'Svhite-mule" wdiich some 
negro had brought in. Mace liked it very well, but he was 
kind enough to divide. 

It was reported this afternoon that our brigade lost three 
men the afternoon and evening before; they were out foraging 
for onions and vegetables and did not come back. They were 
either killed or taken prisoners. There were actually seen 
in the offing, horsemen who were acting like scouts, and scru- 
tinizing our column. But we had no cavalry to stop it with. 
We were suffering some for want of vegetables; there were few 
in the country — only little gardens. Old negresses would oc- 
casionally come into camp with baskets of onions, which w^e 
bought and paid for. No mess could as a rule get more than 
enough to flavor a soup. The boys would fight one another 
if the right of sale was not divided up. 

We were told that Governor Claib Jackson had a big depot 
of army supplies between us and "Grand river." Grand river 
was in those days the north prong of the Osage river, running 
past Clinton and falling into the Osage near Warsaw; it seems 
to appear now on the maps as an Osage river. It was not so 
large, by considerable, as the Osage river proper. The Osage 
river was considered one of the navigable rivers up to Osceola, 
at high water, and navigable at all times to Warsaw. The sup- 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 173 

plios of the country were brought by boat to Warsaw and from 
there transshipped by wagon to southwest Missouri and south- 
east Kansas. The suppUes for Fort Scott, on the eastern edge 
of Kansas Territory, were most frequently shipped to Osceola 
by boat and thence by wagon 75 miles to the Fort. 

The sun was very hot on July 7th, and we marched next to 
the regulars. We kept right close up to them, and our front 
ranks would punch right up into them when they stopped. It 
was Lyon's old company, and he resented the manner in which 
we walked up onto them. During a halt in the forenoon he 
told us to keep back. It pleased us to know that we were not 
of those who needed any prodding. We started again; the 
road was over a high prairie, and we were all going at a brisk 
gait, with the First Iowa close up to the regulars, when a halt 
was ordered. The halt was made so as to give the regulars 
an opportiuiity to shed their impedimenta; a two-horse wagon 
drove up; the regulars piled upon the ground their knapsacks 
and haversacks in little pyramids, and were now in light march- 
ing order, carrying only canteens and fighting tools. We 
cheered and cheei'ed, and sang "The Happy Land of Canaan." 
Our companies one by one as they came up and saw the stuff 
of the regulars being loaded up, cheered, and kept it up until 
the last man of the regiment had passed. There was a gap be- 
hintl us to the next regiment of at least a half-mile. The regu- 
lars were very much offended. We had not liked each other 
since the buck-and-gag incident at Boonville. The regulars 
started off at a good gait in their light marching rig. The word 



174 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

\Yas passed down the line to keep up, and to march on their 
coat-tails all day. We were prettily heavily loaded, but we 
kept right up. Once in a while comrades had to carry a man's 
gun for a few minutes to let him get his breath, but we kept 
up with them just the same, and there kept continually going, 
''That (1 — d Happy Land of Canaan." We marched twenty 
miles that forenoon and got to the ferry of Grand river at one 
o'clock, which shows that we did a good job of fast marching. 
Nobody disputed our prestige after that. We enjoyed and 
held on to our title of the ''Iowa greyhounds." But to go 
back. During the day we were passing near a hamlet in which 
there was a large, long, newish building made out of native 
lumber from a neighboring sawmill. Part of the brigade had 
passed. A temporary halt was ordered. A man in "butter- 
nut," on horseback, rode by, and pointing to the building said, 
"That is a rebel depot of supplies." We all went for it, officers 
and men. We smashed in the doors and found the house filled 
with hats, shoes, and citizens' ready-made clothing. I got all 
I wanted, which was a good pair of shoes, and having already 
a good pair, I considered myself fixed for the campaign. Some 
of Lyon's staff finally drove us out, and the balance of the con- 
tents within was turned over to the quartermaster. The First 
Iowa w^re the only ones that got anything, and there was no 
effort made to make us give it up, for we had only taken what 
we had good need of. Some one called us thieves; it was the 
first loot of the campaign. We did not care. Bill Heustis 
wrote on a piece of pasteboard and stuck it up at regimental 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 175 

headquarters: ''First Iowa — ^Thieves and Greyhounds." As 
we neared the river, houses became more frequent. At one place 
they had a fine garden in front of the house, thriving principally 
in onions. It was surrounded by a 5-foot fence made of split 
pickets, and an officer was on guard to prevent trespass. Just 
as we went by a lady came to the door, and probably taking 
pity at our ragged appearance, said, "If you want some of the 
vegetables you can take them." I did not hunt for the gate; 
it was 25 feet off; I dropped my gun to a chum; I lit over 
in the onion-bed and began harvesting them before I struck 
the ground. I got enough for my mess. In five minutes there 
was not a green thing in the garden. Just before we got down 
into the river-bottom we passed General Sturgis and his troops, 
who had just got in. He was on his horse near the road with 
his officers, and we passed in review before him and he studied 
us well. Back of him we could see his men. Our men kept 
up a constant cheering, and so did his until we had passed. 
They camped near us that night. We established headquarters 
and stacked arms; then went around to see what we could 
see while the cooks got supper. I went down to the river- 
bank. It was running bank-full, swift and deep. While I 
was there Lyon's pontoon train, as we called it, came up. It 
was a six-mule wagon loaded with stuff he had got from the 
steamboat stores at Boonville. There were some coils of two- 
inch rope, two or three small bales of hemp, some kegs of pitch, 
some crosscut saws, axes, adzes, a kit of carpenters' tools, nails, 
clotheslines, and many other things, that made a bulky but 



176 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

not very heavy load for the team. An officer was at this time 
at the wagon, and he looked as if he belonged to the regular 
army, and acted as if he understood his business. We flocked 
around him, and he had a lot of clothesline unrolled and was 
unrolling a coil of the two-inch rope. He asked if anyone there 
could swim. Many said, yes; then he said he wanted three 
men to swim over with clotheslines; several volunteered, and 
he chose me as one. Two of us finally got across the river with 
our lines, and one was carried down-stream. The officer ordered 
me to tie my line to a tree which he pointed out, and then a 
squad came over upon the rope, hand over hand. Then we 
hauled the cable over and snubbed it to a tree. Two similar 
ropes were put across above and below. But there was not a 
boat, not even a canoe. Sturgis had with him a lot of regular 
cavalry, and he had sent squads up the river to bring down 
everything that could be found. By nightfall we had two 
flatboats, one big and one little, together with a lot of skiffs and 
log canoes. When I got back the officer took me one side and 
gave me a good drink of brandy, and said that he would want 
me when we got to the Osage river. In the meantime there 
was about a hundred yards of the river-bottom that was so 
near impassable that it had to be corduroyed. Details of men 
went to work chopping trees and cutting the trunks up into 
lengths; other men drove mules and snaked the cuts into 
place ; while others with shovels worked in the mud and dug up 
dirt and piled it on the corduroy. It did not take so very long ; 
there were plenty of men who knew how to do everything. I 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 177 

did not work on the road, but got a nap and a glorious onion 
supper, and went down to the river to see the crossing begin. 
While there I was detailed, along with a Muscatine boy, on the 
fire squad. The night became dark and lowering, and the 
orders were to crowd the ferry. The big boat went over first 
with a load of men as helpers; we all took our arms. On the 
south side of the river a rough untraveled road began to climb 
the hill. Huge fires had to be built so as to make light for the 
ferries to work by. My companion and I made the first fire on 
the bank. We had an axe and there was much dead timber 
and we kept the fire booming. Along the road up the hill and 
up and down the river other fires were made. We kept about 
twenty fires roaring; wood was plenty, and we lighted up 
the scene in a way that was weird and impressive. I shall 
never forget it. The same thing was going on at the lower 
cable with the small flatboat, and at the upper (third) cable 
with the skiffs and canoes. We had ten pieces of artillery to 
cross and a half-regiment of Sturgis's cavalry. The horses were 
swum from the boats by their halters. By 3 o'clock a. m. our 
regiment was across, and very many were over before us. After 
that it began to rain. T had torn my wamus almost to shreds, 
and as I had an extra pair of shoes to carry I threw the wamus 
away. I never had a wamus or a coat again during the cam- 
paign. Details of men were set at work to fix up the road that 
ran uphill. 

I cannot tell where this ferry-crossing was. My journal says 
nothing of Clinton^ so I know our regiment ditl not pass through 



178 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

the town. I think our crossing must have been about south 
of CHnton, and that we passed Chnton near the east side of the 
village, and went straight to the river. The main road ran 
west of Clinton and the ferry was three or four miles west. It 
was out of our way, and as the rebels had destroyed the ferries 
we made a new one on our line of route, or reestablished an 
ancient one. 



CHAPTER 17. 

July 8th. — Grand River. — Osage River. — Wagons Lightened Up. — Mis- 
souri Storekeeper. — Graybacks. — Seven Kinds of Insects. — Nostalgia. 
Sturgis's Forces. — Kansas Officers. — Jim Lane's Speech. — July 9th. — 
March to Osage. — Game. — Log Cabins. — Dead Soldier. — Sunstrokes. — 
Osage River Reached. — July 10th. — The Crossing. — Deaths and Acci- 
dents. — Fire-Guard again. — Suicides. — The "Jigger Boss." 

On July 8th we were not awakened at 3:30, becmise ive had 
not been asleep yet. We were wet and soaking in the morn- 
ing, and after daylight we dozed a little, slept a little, drank hot 
coffee by the quart, and waited for orders. The general train 
had not yet got across Grand river. Lyon sent a detachment 
of cavalry south to secure the crossing of Osage river, which by 
the crooked road was about twenty-five miles ahead, and started 
out a Missouri regiment as a support to the cavalry and to give 
it something to rally on if they should meet the force that was 
said to be somewhere in front of us. Finally our regiment was 
ordered to get cooked rations for two days ahead, to carry us 
across the Osage river. We were told to throw every pound of 
weight out of the company wagons that could be dispensed with ; 
that guns and ammunition were to be inspected; that all the 
sick were to be gathered together and put in the empty wagons ; 
the flatboats and skiffs hauled up onto the bank when the train 
was across; and the horses that needed it to be shod. On this 
da}^ I got a good deal of excellent sleep. It was my good luck. 

(179) 



180 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

During the day a big ruffianly-looking man rode into camp and 
sought General Lyon's tent, and told him that he was the owner 
of the plundered store north of the river. The Missourian said 
that he worked hard for what he had, and he did not want to 
lose it. He had a list of the stuff in the store, and wanted the 
cash. Lyon said, ''You arc just the man I want to see." "Ser- 
geant of the guard!" he exclaimed. The sergeant came. Said 
Lyon, "Put this man under close guard, and if he tries to get 
away, shoot him." We were told by natives that day who came 
into camp that this man had killed seven Union men. The 
story goes that he was taken out and shot; we never saw him 
afterwards. 

We had a new experience in the Grand river timber: we got 
covered with wood-ticks, seed-ticks, and bedbugs. Down in this 
timber and in other parts of southern Missouri the bedbug is 
indigenous to the soil or to the trees. In the house he is merely 
a domesticated stranger. We also had gradually acc|uired lice 
of two varieties, of which the body-louse was the most persistent. 
The latter afterwards became very common in the army under 
the name of "graybacks." I hate to tell these stories, but jus- 
tice to history requires that the ti'uth be told. In addition to 
these we had accfuired a lot of chiggers and fleas. There was 
a house near our camp that had outdoors a large soap-kettle. 
I was with Corporal Churubusco; we figured up how many dif- 
ferent insects we were harboring; it was seven. "Yes," said 
the corporal, "and mosquitoes will be eight." We got a fire 
under the soap-kettle and got some water boiling, and then put 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 181 

in our clothes while we took scissors and trimmed each other's 
hair down to the cuticle. While our clothes were boiling we 
went down to the river in ''undress uniform," and with a bar of 
acrid, ill-natured soap we did our best; then we returnctl, wrung 
out our boiling clothes, put them on, and dried them in situ as 
rapidly as possible. The insect pests of Missouri never let up 
during the campaign ; the chiggers and the ticks were always 
with us; they burrowed in and made angry, venomous sores. 
These eight varieties of insects kept each of us busy during the 
balance of the campaign. The flies afterwards made it nine. 

The crossing of Grand river had not been without its dangers 
and casualties. We lost six men, two of whom were overcome 
with heat and overwork (whisky probably the cause) , three were 
drowned, and one man committed suicide. It was here, at this 
point, that I first came across that army disease known as "nos- 
talgia." The man gets homesick and dispirited, then everything 
seems to take hold of him; he gets the diarrhea, his stomach 
balks, then his courage breaks its halterstrap and runs away, 
then he gets erroneous ideas of the beauties of Kingdom Come, 
and finally he makes up his mind that if he cannot be an officer 
he will be an angel. I had myself been figuring up if glory w^as 
not too expensive, and if it w^ere not worth much less than it 
cost. For forty-eight hours I had been considering whether life 
was not in fact a good deal of a vaudeviUe show. One of the 
great difficulties with us was that we had not got any letters 
from home or our girls for a long time, and the novelty was worn 
off by hardships. Any young man sort of wants to know whether 



182 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

he can stand them and whether he is made of dural^le stuff, and 
having found out that he can, and is, he then feels incUned to 
turn his attention to other avenues and varieties of knowledge. 

General Sturgis joined us on July 7th, as stated. He had with 
him about 2500 men, as follows : 

The First Kansas Infantry; Col. George W. Deitzler. 

The Second Kansas Infantry; Col. Robert B. Mitchell. 

600 Regular Cavalry, and 

A Battery of Regular Artillery.* 

General Sturgis had been driven out of Fort Smith, Arkansas, 
by the Rebel Government, when it seized all U. S. property and 
arms. Sturgis, who was a major, took all his forces to Leaven- 
worth, Kansas, except some officers w^ho would not go. The 
enlisted men stayed by their flag and government. The enlisted 
men were the heroes. They stayed in the service and did good 
fighting afterwards. Inducements were offered them the same 
as to the officers, but they did not take hold of the States-right 
theory, and allow themselves to be bribed into treason. I can- 
not account for this, except as it was explained that the plot had 
been of long duration and those officers had been worked into 
the U. S. service who were of secession thought and tendency. 
The enlisted men were promised all kinds of lieutenancies, but 
spurned them and remained loyal to their country and its colors. 
This was the universal testimony. 

*The foregoing is my brief note made at the time. In Appendix "A" 
will be found a statement by an officer of Sturgis's command, in a maga- 
zine article of 1907. 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 183 

The First Kansas was organized and its colonel sworn in, May 
28th, and the Second Kansas, June 20th. They started with 
Sturgis in the latter part of June, going by the way of Clinton, 
Missouri, to join with General Lyon. General Sturgis had as 
his Adjutant a Captain Gordon Granger, who afterwards became 
a Major-General. Both of the colonels of the Kansas regiments, 
and also the Lieutenant-Colonel of the Second Kansas, became 
Brigadiers. They turned out to be a good lot of fighters. One 
of the Kansas men told a story about 'Mini Lane," (Senator and 
Brigadier-General.) The Kansas boys at first all wanted to go 
into the cavalry and not the infantry. Lane was speeding the 
call for troops. Lincoln had called on Kansas for infantry. 
There were a lot of men who wanted to go, and Lane made 
speeches. He said: "Now, if you go in the cavalry and dash 
into Missouri and whip them, as of course you will, you will come 
back with two horses each. One of them you will have cap- 
tured from the enemy and the other will be the one you rode out 
of Kansas on, and which you already had. But if you go in the 
infantry you will come back with two horses, both of which you 
will have captured from the enemy. By so doing you will have 
gained more and the enemy retained less." The speech took, 
so it is said. 

On July 9th we were awakened at 3:30, as usual. It had 
rained very hard during the latter part of the night, and as we 
had no tents we did not sleep very well ; the wind blew a perfect 
gale towards morning, and the lightning pecked around in the 
trees for about an hour. Couriers were dashing around, and 



184 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

the news was given out that Sigel had been surrounded and could 
not hold out more than three days; and that we must reinforce 
him by that time or he would be captured, then we captured 
next, and Springfield lost. Governor Claib Jackson was said to 
have 8000 men down on the ''Muddy" south of the village of 
Lamar, and that a portion of his troops together with those from 
Arkansas had had a running fight with Sigel, and had got him 
cut off. 

Our regiment was started out alone from camp to follow and 
overtake the Missouri regiment that had started for the Osage 
river twenty-three hours before, to reinforce the cavalry. A 
fight at the Osage crossing was expected. With two days of 
cooked rations in our haversacks we started through the mud. 
Our load was now 28 pounds. It was 6 o'clock a. m. We left 
the wagons to take care of themselves. Lyon wanted some men 
on the banks of the Osage river just as soon as he could get them 
there, and he thought the "greyhounds" from Iowa could get 
there sooner than anybody. We struck up ''The Happy Land 
of Canaan," and moved off, with General Lyon evidently pleased 
at our style, as he sat on his horse and watched us. Lyon did 
not smile when he was pleased — ^he just pulled his chin whiskers 
with his mouth half open. The face of the country changed. 
The soil seemed to be changed ; streaks of iron-rust appeared in 
the rocks; the road was bad and crooked. There were lots more 
of brush and timber. Houses were very scarce. We saw in the 
the distance sometimes herds of deer. We had seen lots of wild 
turkeys in the timber; some of the soldiers had cut down trees 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 185 

with cfjous in. The houses that we met were all log cabins. 
There was no sawed lumber in them. They had puncheon floors, 
and clapboard roofs, split out of oak blocks w'ith a ''fro" (frow)*; 
no window^s or glass, only shutters. Every one of them was 
deserted. Our course went over a ridge; we suffered much for 
water; we took it from pools and puddles. In a cabin at some 
little distance from the road, where we halted for a few min- 
utes, the door was broken in and a dead soldier found, of the 
Missouri regiment that had passed the day before. We lost sev- 
eral men from sunstroke, and many suffered so from excessive 
heat that they straggled and formed a group by themselves in 
the rear. It was about twenty-five miles across, and as we got 
a little more than half-way, and across the ridge, a courier came 
from Lyon and hurried us on. We did our best, and got in about 
six o'clock P.M.; about 750 came in with the regiment and about 
100 were stragglers that got in along from 7 to 12 at night. I 
came in with the regiment, but was tired, indescribably tired; 
every nmscle was aching and every nerve was on a quiver. Old 
Mace was back with the wagons. I wanted a tin-cupful of 
"nourishment," but there was none. We stopped near the 
bank of the river and stacked arms. We had no tents, no wag- 
ons, "no nothing," except wdiat we carried. Had worn the feet 
off from my last pair of socks. I felt lonesome, and did not want 
to talk. I went down to the river and it was bank-full. There 
was a little quiet, overflowed side arm to the river, and I deter- 
mined to go in and cool oft'. We were all sunburned and swarthy. 

*For the picture of a frow, see Century Dictionary. 

t 



186 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

I stuck my bayonet, fixed to the musket, down into the ground, 
and took off what few clothes I had and hung them on the gun. 
I passed a six-foot snake in a bush that had been driven out of 
his hole by the water and I shook him out, but could not kill 
him. I then got into the water and sat in it up to my chin until 
I got cooled off. I threw away my fragmentary socks, washed 
the mud out of my shoes, and went back to the company line. 
The boys were lying around on the ground ; some were sleeping, 
some were smoking and some were eating, but none were talking. 
We had no roll-call, no guard-mount, no bugling; it was every- 
body for himself. We were told to sleep on our arms ; that we 
were in danger. I finally went off and spread my blanket on a 
nice damp, cool, rheumatic piece of ground, and with my head 
on my equipment I went to sleep, and did not wake up until 
the bugle called at three-thirty in the morning. We had started 
twenty-three hours behind the Missouri regiment and had got in 
only four hours behind them. We had walked the 25 miles in 
12 hours, they "in 31 hours; but they had not been pushed. 

On July 10th, after 3:30 in the morning, everything was stir 
and bustle. We had to get across the river as soon as possible. 
The regular cavalry that preceded us had captured and se- 
cured the ferry and had got some other boats; in fact, quite a 
lot of the small ones. A company of the Missoiu'i regiment had 
gone across and felled trees and made a little fort, so as to hold 
the ferry if attacked. This ferr}^ was near Osceola, but we did 
not march through the town. There had been some bad wash- 
outs, and new roads had to be cut and some digging done. The 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 187 



tools were few, but when a new man, every ten minutes, gets 
hold of the axe or spade, and works it as hard as he can, there 
is lots accomplished. Artillery and soldiers and teams began 
to come in the morning. Some of them had been going all 
niglit. We got the trees cut and the roads dug and our regi- 
ment began to cross. We went half a mile south of the river 
after we had crossed, and went into camp. Teams were coming 
up and crossing all day. As a matter of fact the teams, beef 
cattle and the rear guard did not all get across for two days. 
I managed to pick up (juite a nice little lot of sleep. In the 
evening I was detailed as a fire-guard along with a Dubuciue 
man, and we kept a roaring fire until we were relayed at 12 
midnight. There were several men lost at this point. Four 
men overcome with heat died. Another man was killed in 
the felling of the trees. Oae was accidentally shot. One man 
was on the ground asleep, and an army wagon turning out of 
the road ran over him and lirokt; his neck. Two men were 
missing. They had cither deserted or had gone out foraging 
and been waylaid. A strange thing happened on the ferry- 
boat. A soldier intending suicide jumped overboard and ditl 
not come up again; another jumped over after him. It was 
supposed at the time that the latter intended to rescue the 
former, but it was soon seen that the suggestion of suicide made 
])y the former had been followed out instantaneously by the 
latter. Casualties were happening constantly. During the 
ev(>ning while on the fire duty a wagon-boss came along; he 
had got his teams in and had them near us, and he wanted to 



188 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

sit down and rest and smoke. He had some 'Svhite-mule" 
in his canteen, and he gave both of lis a drink. He called it a 
"jigger," and said that he used to be "fourth Jigger Boss" on 
a canal. This was a new expression to me, and I asked him 
what it was ; and this was the definition ; he said : 

"Before the Mexican War there had been a great craze al:)out 
building canals. Everybody was wanting to build a canal and 
everybody wanted one to come by his door. It's railroads 
now," said he, "then it was canals. Well, the labor mostly 
came from Europe, and there was so much competition that 
labor was scarce, and the way to get it was to pay as much as 
anybody and give them 'jiggers' thrown in. I was on canal 
work; different people and places were bidding against each 
other, and it was at first three jiggers per man a d&y, then it 
got up to four, five, and then six. Other contractors would 
send emissaries onto our dump and offer the same wages and 
more jiggers, until we got up to ten. The whisky was common 
corn country-still \^'hisky, and we got it for seven dollars a 
barrel, including the barrel. We'd j^ut a little water and 
cayenne pepper into it, and it cost us a cent a jigger. One man 
attended to the jiggers, but as business got better we had two, 
and then three, and finally I was number four. It took a mighty 
good man to be fourth jigger boss. The fourth jigger boss came 
last, and he had the hardest time of all. Of course you must 
not give a jigger to a man who is already full, and as I came 
around last I had to refuse those who had not ought to have 
any more. Well, w^hen I refused a man he wanted to fight. 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 189 

He swore that I was trying to rob him, and cheat him, and I 
had to lick al^out twenty drunken men a day. The work had 
to go on and the men must not be in such condition that they 
could not work ; if they were, the foreman of the dump would 
report me, and I had to be careful, — see that scar there, and 
here; had several ribs broke; but I made them come to time. 
O'Brien who built the 'Big Cayuga' said I w^as the safest jigger 
boss west of the Alleghanies. I like to give a man a jigger 
when I think he needs it; you needed that one I gave you; 
take another one; it's good, nutritious corn whisky, and I've 
got some more in the wagon that's never been drank ; good 
whisky '11 never hurt any man." 



CHAPTER 18. 

July 11th. — Wild Hogs. — De Soto. — Soap in Shoes.— Wardrobe. — Inven- 
tory of Pockets. — Dead Soldier. — Wagons Lightened.^ — All-night March. 
■ — Lyon at the Fire. — Jidy 12. — A Long March. — Stockton. — Melville. 
• — Gravelly. — Raw Bacon. — Ragged Soldiers. — Union Sentiment. — Cabin 
on Prairie. — Happy Land of Canaan. 

On July 11th wo had reveille at 3 : 30 in the morning. Corporal 
Bill had run across a hog in the timber and had got it on his 
bayonet and brought it in. It was one of those "rail-splitters" 
so common then in the country. Old Mace had got in, and we 
had fresh pork for breakfast. The hogs that infested the forests 
of southern Missouri and northern Arkansas at that early day 
were a very fine species of domestic game. Some were as wild 
and as fleet as deer; others had been domesticated somewhat 
and were much tamer, but they w^ere all nevertheless wild ani- 
mals. They were the descendants of the hogs that De Soto 
brought with him through this country. The stories of the 
difficulties, dangers and privations of De Soto are probably 
imaginary. He started from Tampa with a large drove of 
hogs for food. He had such a good time of it that he drove 
them slowly and safely for a couple of thousand miles, and had 
so much to eat and the hogs so increased in number that when 
De Soto died in Arkansas his share of the herd had become a 
large drove. Some of the hogs escaped, and many presents 
of others w^ere made by De Soto to the Indian chiefs. So there 

(190) 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 191 

were enough to populate in thife centuries all of the forests 
through that part of the country. After getting a taste of the 
''mast-fed razor-back" we never after that missed anoppor- 
tiuiity of taking one in. They were technically known to the 
boys as "antelope." 

Before starting out this morning without socks I was com- 
plaining that my shoes were stiff and hard, and old Mace said, 
"In the Mexican War when the boys didn't have socks they 
used to fill their shoes full of soap." This struck me as a good 
plan of campaign; so I melted up a big piece of bar soap, and 
got each shoe so full that it "scjushed" up at the tops when on. 
They were plump full. They felt delicious. I skated around 
in them, and it was a pleasure to march. In gathering up my 
belongings this morning ready to start I found that some one 
had stolen my new pair of shoes. This was a serious loss and 
left me subject to misfortune, for there was no place where I 
could steal a pair back and get even. My wardrobe now con- 
sisted of a hat and pair of shoes, both black and well worn, and 
in between them a slate-colored woolen shirt and a pair of 
trousers. I also had a nice pair of light, cool sunnner shoe- 
strings made of buckskin. I also had a large square, red- 
})ordered, cotton pocket-handkerchief with a. large blue steam- 
l)oat plying up a picturesque and beautiful yellow river in the 
center. This handkerchief was invaluable if it did cost only 
fifty cents in Boonville. It was my necktie, and in marching 
I put the ends around my hat and let it hang down like a "Have- 
lock" to keep the sun from the back of my delicately chiseled 



192 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

neck, so as to avoid sunstroke. In a hip pocket I carried a 
diary from which I write these notes. It had an oilcloth cover 
that hardly protected it. A piece of lead-pencil, a knife grown 
rusty, a plug of chewing-tobacco, and a hunting-case silver 
watch which was not water-tight and hence refused at intervals 
to do business, was a complete inventory of the contents of the 
pockets, save and except a little wad of Missouri paper money. 
It was thus we started out on July 11th. We went down 
the east side of Sac (Sauk) river. We expected to have a fight 
before night. Irregular companies of secesh "partisan rangers," 
as they were called, were all around us, and the main rebel army 
might be anywhere in front of us, or on top of us, at any time. 
Natives professing to be Union men came into camp and told 
us of bands of Confederate troops in every direction around us ; 
even in our rear. These troops were enrolled as Missouri State 
Guards. Th(>y were Confederate soldiers under the guise of 
State troops, armc^d to resist invasion. We had not gone far 
the morning of the 11th when we passed near a hamlet con- 
sisting of a store building, a blacksmith shop and two or three 
houses, all of logs. Some of our cavalry had discovered the 
dead body of one of our soldiers in a field. The store was 
broken open and searched, and another dead soldier of the regu- 
lar infantry was found hidden under the counter with some 
boards piled over him. There were then no goods in the store, 
they having been moved in anticipation of our coming. We 
marched until noon. After that we crossed to the west side of 
Sac river, and made a halt for a brief rest. I ate from my haver- 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 193 

sack and slept until time came for starting; just before then 
the company team came up. Our crossing of Sac river was 
about twenty miles south of our Osage river crossing. Our 
tents had been thrown out, and the wagon contained only the 
company desk, a few cooking utensils, a lot of hard-tack and 
side-meat, and three or four of the boys that were temporarily 
out of repair. The other stuff had been left on the side of the 
road for empty wagons coming up to take in and haul on. We 
were ordered to put into the company wagon our Ijlankets and 
everything but our guns, ammunition and canteens, and be 
ready for a fight. The wagons were ordered to each keep be- 
liind their respective regiments. I forgot to say that in each 
wagon had been placed boxes containing 3000 musket car- 
tridges, and in our wagon had been placed a small chest of tea, 
— :where from, I do not know. After our lunch we moved on 
at a rapid gait, and did not stop until sundown. Our team 
had kept up, and we halted and made some camp-kettles full 
of strong tea, which we drank with pleasure and benefit. I 
had never eaten any side-meat, and I could not do so. I had 
always managed to get plenty of something else and avoid it. 
We expected to camp, but got no orders, and we marched on 
thinking that at any minute we would be turned in on the side 
of the road; but we kept on walking until midnight. We 
were getting very tired. The cavalry were in the advance. 
\Ye heard a gun fire. Then several guns at different angles 
from the front, and we thought that we had I'un into the enemy 
by niglit and that a battle was coming on. But still we kept 



194 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

on marching; at last there was a break of dawn. We had 
marched nearly twenty-four hours. As we came to some tim- 
ber we were halted. I ran around to find some water to fill my 
canteen, and got al)out a hundred yards from my company 
and came to a little dying fire where the enemy had been. Be- 
side it was a blanket spread out, and some baggage. I sat 
down on the blanket and was drying my shoes at the fire and 
moralizing on the painfulness and inconveniences of war, and its 
demoralizing tendencies, when General Lyon rode up and 
re(|uested me in an abrupt and thoughtless manner to get off 
from that blanket and douljle-ciuick to my compan}'. 1 did 
this with such haste as my condition \A'ould permit; as I went 
away I tm'ned to watch him. He hastih^ dismounted and 
spread out a large map on the blanket, and then he and his 
staff got their heads together tracing out the lines. I found 
my company, and had hardly got curled up on the ground when 
the colunm was ordered to start, and off we went again. "The 
Happy Land of Canaan" was started, l)ut after a lingering 
and emaciated existence it died suddenly as we came to a creek 
that was up to our knees and we had to wade. The soap in 
my shoes was a little diluted, but it continued to be a blessing, 
and there was lots of it still there. '\\'hile we were attempt- 
ing to sing. Captain Matthies, afterwaixls Brigadier-C^eneral, 
came forward to talk wuth our First Lieutenant, and as he passed 
me he said, "You should that singing stop. You will, your 
strength lost." 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 195 

It was now growing light (July 12th) ; everybody was getting 
tired and sleepy. If a man stumbled and fell he did not get 
up again. The artillery was behind us; so when one of our 
men broke down and gave up we had to pull him to the side of 
the road so that the artillery would not run over him. The sun 
rose hot and blistering, and still we were marching. Our com- 
pany wagon was not far in the rear, and several of our boys 
had been picked up and thrown into it, but the horses were 
struggling along with great difficulty and with much misery. 
All of our company in front of me had fallen out and I was in 
the van, and with me was another tall, slim, whalebone of a lad. 
His name was Chapman; he had one black eye and one blue 
eye, and was one of tliQ \ery best. He was afterwards one of 
the honored Judges of Nebraska. In order that neither of us 
would fall down and go out of commission we took hold of hands, 
and when he stumbled I yanked him and when I stumbled he 
yanketl me. We kept changing sides and changing hands, shift- 
ing our muskets every time. We led the company. During a 
momentary halt Bill Heustis said, "I wish I had stayed at home 
and sent my big brother." We went through the villages of 
Stockton and Melville. I do not find Melville now on the map; 
it was about the place where Dadeville now is. Going through 
the town of Stockton there was great Union sentiment displayed. 
There was a man there by the name of "Gravelly"; he said 
he was gravelly by name and gravelly by nature. He was after- 
wards a Union Colonel, and Brevet Brigadier. He was entitled 



196 ^ THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

to it. All the women and girls came out to see us pass. 
AVe did not look well. Our uniforms, if that was their name, 
were very ragged. Most of the boys had apertures through 
their raiment, and most of them had thrown away their 
coats. Their shirts were out at the elbows, and frequently rip- 
ped down the backs. The black slouch hats set the whole thing 
off in an artistic way. My pants had whiskers on the bottom 
four inches long and were ripped down on both sides in a dan- 
gerous-looking way, and I did not like to have the girls looking 
at me. They were in great numbers. So tired, so muddy and 
so dirty were we that we looked like a gang of discouraged ban- 
dits. But we tried to appear frisky, and wt marched the best 
we could and we sang the "Happy Land of Canaan" the best 
we knew how, and as the town was small we got through it with- 
out ruining ourselves in heroic efforts to show off. And the girls 
clapped their hands. We finally went into camp about noon, I 
guess. A friendl}^ cloud had come across the sky, and we could 
not see the sun and we had lost all knowledge of time. It might 
have been 10 o'clock or it might have been 2 p. m. Our wagon 
drove up. My appetite was good; we had marched 48 miles. 
The official report says we marched 46 miles without stopping, 
then halted two hours and marched 6 miles further, which would 
make 52 miles. I give my own figures as made at the time. We 
had worn out the cavalry and the artillery, and they were lag- 
ging behind, hardly able to move. But alas! of our company 
only 32 came in on the home-stretch — ^the balance were strewn 
along the road. We thirty-two boys fairly hugged one another 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 197 



when we were told that we had acconiphshcd the purpose, and 
had saved Sigel, and that the enemy that were trying to pen him 
u]) had fled. 

I went to the company wagon to get something to cat. There 
was hard-tack and side-meat. I had never eaten side-meat. 
I could never stomach it. It was salt-cured, smoked pork. 
But I had an appetite that had been honed and had the 
finest edge on it ever known. I cut off apiece of the meat; 
I had no time to cook it. I ate it raw, and then I ate 
more of it. I shall never forget this circumstance. I often 
refer to it; it probably lengthened my life by many years. I 
have since noticed that consumptives cannot or will not eat fat 
bacon. Before the day I speak of I never could eat it, and after- 
wards 1 always liked it, and nothing but that march could have 
changed my appetite. I have always been thankful for that 
march; it changed my life. Bill Heustis used to speak of me in 
this wise: "See old Link a-standing up there, six feet high and 
six inches square." I finally became lots squarer than that. 

As soon as I had my lunch on raw bacon sandwiches I curled 
up and went to sleep under a bush, and was waked up to go on 
guard duty at 8 o'clock. I was stiff and lame and still hungry. 

This march cost our regiment quite a squad of men overcome 
with the heat. Our camp was on the middle fork of Sac river. 

One of our boys found a good horse tied in the timber near our 
camp, and the horse was put into our company team to help 
pull. We had run out of forage and were working our horses on 
grass until we got near Stockton, where we came into a good 



198 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

country again and could get a little corn for horse-feed. But the 
seccsh had strippcnl the country lean ; they had left a little, but 
not much. The way was this: There were communities in 
which the Union sentiment prevailed and other communities in 
which secession sentiment prevailed; Missouri was very "spot- 
ted," and where the Union sentiment prevailed the country was 
lean because the secesh took from the Union men, robbed them, 
murdered them, or drove them out if they could. There was a 
'vast amount of incendiarism. The Rebel army had got about 
all the groceries in the country through which we were now pass- 
ing, and had confiscated about all the beef and emptied the smoke- 
houses. The latter were a great source of supply, for each farmer 
killed his own pork and smoked it up a year ahead, and every 
farm had its smoke-house. Being detailed on guard that night, 
I went to headc^uarters and heard the news that we had run out 
of rations, and that everything in stock had been issued to the 
companies; that is, all of the regular rations that the quarter- 
master had brought along were issued and the wagons were 
empty. Our company had on hand some hard-tack and coffee, 
but no sugar, rice, or anything else, — ^just biscuit and coffee. 
We had been running a race with hunger as well as with Price 
and Claib Jackson. I was put on picket out about two miles 
with two other men, among a clump of sumac bushes, on the 
edge of a little prairie ; a house was on the other side of the prai- 
rie. We slept alternately and went in at 3:30 on call of the 
bugle. We "skirmished" for something to eat; we found the 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 199 

house across the prairie deserted and not a single thing — hog, 
chicken, vegetable, or anything eatable. The house, a log cabin, 
had a lot of things in it, and it looked as if there had been dis- 
turbance in it; things were slung around and gave an appear- 
ance of pillage and a fight. 

The song of ''The Hapjjy Land of Canaan" which braced us 
up on this terrible march, and which I first heard "French Joe" 
sing in the Macon City guard-house, has long since gone from my 
memory. It was a folk-song concerning John Brown. It told 
about the invasion of Harper's Ferry, the attack, his being 
wounded, his capture, his trial, what everybody said at the trial, 
the sentence, the governor and the death warrant, the execution, 
and the moral. It had many verses; the song was catchy, and 
on it a thousand other verses were built on every conceivable sub- 
ject. There were, however, certain verses that became standard 
and were sung on all of our outbursts. I can only give two 
verses; they are misfitted, but will show the rhyme and meter: 

O the Iowa First, Are the boys that dare the worst; 
And on the rebels they are slowly gaining. 

If they'll fight instead of run, 

We will show them lots of fun; 
And they'll never see the Happy Land of Canaan. 

CHORUS. 

0-ho. 0-ho. 0-ho. 
A-ha. A-ha. A-ha. 
The time of retribution am a-coming; 
For with bayonet and shell 
We will give the rebels hell ; 
And they'll never see the Happy Land of Canaan. 



200 . THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

We love our country wide, And its banner is our pride, — 
We pledge our lives and fortunes to sustain 'em. 

If we perish in the cause 

Of the Union and its laws, 
We are sure to reach the Happy Land of Canaan. 

CHORUS. 

0-ho. 0-ho. 0-ho. 
A-ha. A-ha. A-ha. 
The time of retribution am a-coming; 
For with bayonet and shell 
We will give the rebels hell ; 
And they'll never see the Happy I^and of Canaan. 

It can easily be seen that the rhymes are rude and the verses 
easily constructed, and that almost anyl^ody could add a verse 
to the general fund. The boys were particularly heavy on the 
chorus. In singing this song the boys gave particular emphasis 
to the word at the end of the fifth line of the chorus. The boys 
who were pious substituted the words ''hail Columbia," but it 
disabled them from catching up in time with the sixth line, and 
they did not get in on the home-stretch. 



CHAPTER 19. 

July 13th. — ^Short Food. — Free Fights. — Trousers Wrecked. — Headed for 
Sprmgfield. — -Corn Cure. — Chicken-Hunting. — Hot Biscuit. — Dutch 
Ovens. — The Pants. — June 14th. — Little York. — -No Supplies. — Camp 
Mush. — Murder. — Execution. — No Chaplain. — Sunday Busy Day. — - 
Refitting Trousers. — Union Sentiment. — Weaving. — -Coloring. — Butter- 
nut. — New Trousers. — Belle of the Mohawk Vale. — General Sturgis. — 
July 15th. — Mush and Water. — Harness-Making. — -No Rations. — No 
Drill. — Regiment Neglected. — Cooking Corn-meal. — Bill Huestis's Bugle- 
Call.— Boot-heel Plug. 

On the Morning- of July 13th, we hud for breakfast only 
coffee and hard-tack. Some of the boys were weak enough to 
grumble. Corporal Bill said that he could lick any man that 
would grumble. Drulard had been grumbling, and objected to 
Bill's remark. Bill retorted that Drulard never had lived so 
high in his life as he had since he had been in the army, and now 
that as the Government couldn't do any better, just for a while, 
that he, Drulard, had better shut up; and Bill w^ound up by 
saying that he. Bill, could lick any man that would grumble, any- 
how. Drulard was bigger than Bill, but not as scientific, and 
they went at it hammer and tongs. It did not last long; we 
formed a ring, and Drulard was soon ready to quit. Then an- 
other man wanted to fight Bill, and Grimes went after the new 
man, saying, "I w^ant some of this, too." In a short time there 
were half a dozen free fights in progress, in one of which I became_ 
partially interested. I got out of it in reasonably good shape, 

(201) 



202 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

except that my trousers became a total wreck. We soon set off 
to march, and it seemed that I was all the time stepping out- 
doors. I tied strings around each leg above the knee, and got 
along all right, only hoping that we would have no lady spectators 
along the route. 

On our big 48-mile march we had camped many miles south- 
east of Stockton; we were now headed for Springfield. 

On this day (13th) we marched eighteen miles; we had been 
somewhat stiff and sore, but worked it oft" this day, and al- 
though quite tired, had got limber again. All last night the 
boys that had been left behind on the big march came straggling 
in, until when we started this morning only about ten were out. 
They tagged along in the rear, and caught up with us on the 
night of the 13th. We got into camp about 3 p. m. I had not had 
my shoes off for three days. I went down to a creek to get 
washed up and cooled off, for it was very hot, and when I took 
off my shoes I was surprised to see what had taken place: all 
the corns I had on my feet came off whole just like buttons. It 
was the action of the soap. I never heard of such a thing. My 
feet came out as white and hard and polished as porcelain. I 
have often thought that some enterprising chiropodist might 
make a fortune by giving his patients the treatment I adopted. 
I never had any trouble with my feet after that, and never had 
another corn, although I was in the service over four years longer. 
I believe I was benefitted for life. 

I had a little money left, and wanted something to eat. Coffee 
and crackers were not enough. I suggested to Corporal Bill 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 203 



that he and I go out ''a-skirniishing." We went prei)are(l to 
fight. We took our muskets, and got about two miles from camp 
when we came to a cabin and saw chickens. There was a woman 
there with a negro woman and a half-grown girl. They were 
very much scared at our approach. We asked where the man 
of the house was, and were told that he had gone off to a funeral. 
We thought that meant he was in the secesh army. We cjuieted 
the woman by telling them not to get scared ; that we would do 
them no harm. We saw some chickens. We asked her what 
they were worth ; she said she did not know. She asked if the 
Yankees paid for things; we told her we would pay 25 cents 
apiece for chickens; she said we could have them all at that. 
We could catch only four, and we gave her a dollar. A Missouri 
State Bank dollar was then the circulating medium of the coun- 
try, and good as gold. She then said, being very much relieved, 
that she would cook us a pan of hot biscuit if we woukl wait. 
The dough was all on the table and there was a fire on the hearth 
and she put the dough in a Dutch bake-oven and piled the coals 
on top of it, and we waited a little while and then she raked off the 
coals and pulled out a nice pan of hot biscuit. She said, "It's 
all paid for; you paid more for the chickens than they were 
worth." W^e started home to camp; we ate all of the biscuit 
en route, and delivered the chickens to the mess. In those days 
stoves were practically unknown in Missouri farm-houses. They 
cooked in the fireplaces with pots, kettles, and bake-ovens. 
Bake-oven cooking had a delicious flavor. - They would put into 
the bake-oven, meats or food after supper and cover with ashes 



204 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

and hot coals, and it would cook until morning and liavc l)cncfits 
of long time and low temperature. It made all the difference 
in the world. There was never better cooking than this old- 
fashioned fireplace cooking. We returned to camp by a different 
route from that by which we came. On the road we passed a 
deserted log cabin. Nobody was around, but all of the belong- 
ings of the family were there. On the outside of the house w^as 
a big iron kettle, under which a fire had been recently built. On 
a clothesline hung a saddle-blanket, a gunny-sack, a pair of Texas 
spurs, and a pair of heavy jeans winter trousers. I gently sep- 
arated the trousers from the line and gave them a solemn and 
efficient examination. They were butternut-colored, home-made 
jeans, lined with heavy cotton sheeting called "nigger cloth," 
and good for ten degrees below zero. The thermometer was 
now about 100 above. After communing with myself and satis- 
fying m5'self that I ought to have those pants, I threw them over 
my shoulder and carried them to camp along with my share of the 
chickens. It took a good deal of argument to convince myself 
that I was entitled to that pair of pants. But I was partially 
successful ; it was this way : The house was evidently deserted 
on our approach. I plainly, by intuition, saw that the man there 
was getting ready to go into the rebel army. The gunny-sack was 
to be his saddle-blanket; the saddle-blanket was to be his sleep- 
ing-blanket ; the spurs were a part of his outfit, and the pants 
were the best he owned and had been washed up in anticipation 
of his departure. Next, it was the duty of all American citizens 
to do w^hat they could to increase the efficiency of the army dur- 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 205 

ing active service, and to make such sacrifices as were necessary 
to accomplish that purpose. Thirdly, there could be no more 
worthy recipient of private charity than one who was serving 
the Government in an effort to put down the rebellion at eleven 
dollars per month. Fourth, I needed the pants. Fifth, I was 
defending the Constitution for him, the owner. I was preserving 
for him all that was dear for him, — life, liberty, the magna 
charts, the right of habeas corpus, and those inalienable and in- 
estimable rights which he and his children would enjoy through 
all time. In this great drama I was his agent with power to act, 
and he must furnish the pants. Having fully satisfied myself 
upon this point, I went to bed on my blanket, and after looking 
up into the vast abyss of space and wondering if there were any 
other side to it I went to sleep. 

On July 14th there was a l^ugle-call at 3 :30, but no orders to 
march. We were on the summit of the Ozark Mountains. The 
night had been full of dew, and toward morning chilly. We 
were westerly from Springfield about fifteen miles ; there was a 
place not far from us in a south or southeast direction called 
Little York. I do not know how near. We were camped near 
a little stream, but were up on the edge of a prairie. Our camp 
consisted of a row of little fires along the edge of the brush, a row 
of muskets standing stacked, and a company wagon without 
much in it. The stores and supplies which Lyon had ordered 
from St. Louis while he was at Boonville had been sent to Rolla, 
but at Rolla there was no one with sense enough to s(>nd them 
to us. Springfield was 130 miles by wagon from Holla; we were 



206 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

15 miles further, and needed everything. We expected to get 
clothing and supplies when we ncared Springfield, but got noth- 
ing and were worse off than ever. In addition to this, every- 
thing was discontent. Our company got a quarter of beef, a 
mess-pan full of salt, and two barrels of corn-meal. We were 
out of coffee, and had mush three times with boiled beef. The 
boys called the place ''Camp Mush." Last night there was some 
picket-firing, and we knew we were in the enemy's country. 
Yesterday the Kansas regiment caught up with us, and in camp 
one man killed another in that regiment; he was immediately 
court-martialed and sentenced to be shot. On this afternoon, 
Sunday, the 14th, we were all drawn up on three sides of a hollow 
square to see the execution. The culprit had been taken out in 
the morning and compelled to dig his own grave. In the after- 
noon we were drawn up as stated. He sat on a box by his grave. 
Twenty-eight men were detailed to shoot him, and stood about 
twenty feet from him. The guns were stacked behind the shoot- 
ing-squad; one-half of the guns were loaded with blank car- 
tridges and one-half with bullets. The men were told this, and 
each man was given a gun, not knowing how it was loaded. The 
order was given, ''Make ready — ^take aim — fire." The guns 
went off in a volley, the man rolled over and struggled briefly, 
was pitched into the grave he had dug, and was quickly covered 
over. In a few minutes the ceremony was over and we were 
marched to our quarters and disbanded. There was no regular 
chaplain, and up to this time I do not recollect that anybody 
acted as chaplain; I remember no religious services. In fact. 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 207 

Sunday was generally our busy day. About this time a private 
soldier of Company "I" was detailed as chaplain; he laid on 
style and was respected accordingly. 

I took my newly acquired pants, and with a needle and thread 
started to remodel them. I took some tar with which they 
"greased" the wagons and made a "wax-end," and I reefed the 
trousers at the waist. They had to be taken in considerably at 
the bosom. I then proceeded to peel off the outside portion, 
for I wanted to wear only the lining. The lining was whole and 
dura])le. I shortened them four inches, and then cut away the 
jeans an inch from each seam on each side of the leg. Then I 
snipped the jeans at the seam crosswise so as to make an Indian 
fringe at each seam. I cut away all the outside except just be- 
low the dorsal vertebra^, where I allowed it to remain as a rein- 
forcement. Then I took it and my shirt, which was again in- 
fested with seven varieties of insects, as hereinbefore specifically 
set forth, and, tying them up in my big bandana, I boiled them 
for two hours, and then hung them out in the presence of the 
solar system to dry, while Bill Heustis beat me out of a plug of 
chewing-tobacco playing seven-up, on an amnumition-box. 

The people in the neighborhood of Camp Mush seemed to be 
very strongly Union, and a company of Union cavalry was 
organized from them. They were dressed in the homespun 
garb of the country. The women here carded wool and cotton 
together and spun it into yarn. Then they dyed the yarn with 
walnut or butternut bark; it was all called "butternut"; then 
it was woven on home-made looms into cloth. The cloth was 



208 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

then dyed again, and became a reddish brown. Only two 
colors did I see made : a light indigo blue and the ''butternut." 
This cloth was firm and durable. Any carpenter could make 
a loom and any woman could operate it. We saw many looms 
in operation during the campaign, and in every house were the 
cards to card the wool and cotton and the wheels to spin them. 
The war i)ut indigo out of the market, and as the other color 
remained abundant the rebel uniform for Missouri and Arkansas 
troops became ''butternut"; hence, "butternut" became a 
synonym for disloyalty. This spread so rapidly that soon the 
Copperheads up North adopted it; they cross-sliced butternuts 
and polished the slices, then wore them as buttons, scarf-pins 
and jewelry. Wh(>n we got home from this campaign (about 
!Sei)t. 1, 1861) we went around in squads and hunted for people 
who wore butternuts, and took them off. Gangs of fellows in 
the North wore them; so many, sometimes, that the emblems 
could not be by force taken off. This seems incredible now, 
but there have been' volumes written on the subject. 

While in Camp Mush there was a continual round of flying 
rumors about the enemy : they were represented as being twenty 
thousand in number, and to be near us on the south and west. 
A great number of people visited our camp — men, women, and 
children; among them were many spies. They could not be 
l;('j)t out. The enemy could know every (U^tail of our num1)ers 
and condition. 

I donned my new pair of pants and i)roduced a sensation. 
They hatl a very aboriginal look. Bill Huestis pronounced 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 209 

me to be "The Belle of the ]\h:)ha\\k A^ale/' which at that time 
was a new and popular song. I did look like an Arapahoe, 
but it was the best that I and the United States of America 
could do at the time; I was better off than some of the boys. 
Fletch Branderbury wanted me to go over to visit General 
Sturgis with him ; said General Sturgis was a cousin of his. We 
went. The General received us with an amusetl cordiality. 
He gazed at my attractive garb; said I looked like a "trapper." 
Then he began a fervid outburst of profanity against the "d — n 
fools that had charge of things at Rolla." He said that our 
privations were great, but that we must just do the best we 
could; that we really didn't need anything but ammunition, 
and we had a plenty of that. That we could live off the country 
until we were reinforced and supplies came. We stayed but 
a few minutes; he gave each of us a drink of brandy out of his 
canteen, and I worshipped him ever afterwards in spite of his 
bad luck and want of ability. , 

On July 15th we were called as usual. The coffee was gone; 
we had nothing but mush; it was mush and water. The boys 
joked about it, and started cooking it in all sorts of ways. The 
drinking-water was not exactly what wc wanted. Th(> water 
in the creek had got thoroughly warm. The springs were not 
able to supply us, although there were several good ones around 
in the country at greater or lesser distances; but the springs 
were dipped out and the wells were drawn dry, and still there 
was not half (>n;)ugh water. vSo we had recourse to the creeks. 
Some of the bovs began to get ill. Our team hauled a sick- 



210 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

sciuad off s jmpwhcre to an improvised hovspital ; returning, 
there was a commotion and a run-away and our comimny har- 
ness got disorganized, and the Lieutenant commanding came 
to me to fix it up. I undertook the job as a harness-maker, 
but could get neither needles nor thread; they were not to be 
had, but the wagon-boss had a tanned buckskin of a variety 
then very common in the country. The farmers all killed deer 
and tanned the buckskin into leather. I got Tom Ryan to go 
over to th(^ artillery, where they had a little portable forge, 
and make me an awl of rather large size; this he did from an 
old piece of file, which, with an old pair of spectacles we found 
among the rubbish of a neighboring farm-house, made a supplj'' 
of tools. On a tin plate I boiled some wagon-tar into wax. 
I cut the buckskin into a fine whang, waxed it with the boiled 
tar, and, using one side of the spectacles, that had a little loop 
at the end, as a needle, I fixed up the harness in good shape, 
so much to the satisfaction of the Lieutenant that I got credit 
for a roimd of guard duty. 

In the afternoon, drill-call was sounded, l^ut we went up and 
told the orderly sergeant, Utter, that we did not propose to 
drill on mush; that we could play seven-up on mush but could 
not drill. Fremont was in command at St. Louis, but no sup- 
plies were coming to us and we were not getting any mail. 
There were no clothes, no food, no glory. We were not hearing 
from our girls, and, worst of all, our girls WTre not hearing from 
us. The boys began to believe that we were neglected because 
we were three-months men. We noticed that the regulars got 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 211 



things; they were clothed, better fed than we. In fact, our 
Lieutenant went over to the regulars and got a quarter of dressed 
beef. Our enlistment as a company was April 20th, and the 
boys said: Our time will be up on Saturday this week, the 
20th. But others of the boys said : We are liable to have a 
fight now at any time: who is he who is going to quit just be- 
fore a battle? Bill Fuller said he could lick any two men who 
wanted to go home. After a good deal of talking it all at last 
simmered down to one proposition, viz. : "We want to go home 
miglity bad, but not without a fight." Still there were some 
dissenters who wanted to quit on the 20th. 

The creek-water and the corn-meal began to have an effect 
upon the men; painful diarrheas and dysenteries broke out. 
Old Mace said he knew all about this. He said that they had 
issues of corn-meal in the Mexican War, and that it was all 
right if cooked long enough ; that brief cooking made the men 
sick. He said, "There is a verse I remembers: 

"Cook kawn meal six hours 
Or you get the scours." 

Bill Huestis paraphrased a bugle-call thus : 

Come to mush ; come to mush ; come to mush, you d — n fool ; 
Come to mush; come to mush; come to mush, you d — n fool. 

Corporal Churubusco came in at evening with his hat full of 
beautiful ripe blackberries; he had been wandering around 
and had struck a patch of blackberries, eaten all he could and 
brought back all he could. We had blackberries and mush for 
supper. I forgot to tell al)out a new kind of chewing-tobacco 



212 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

that wc got this afternoon. A man came into camp selling "boot- 
heel" plug. It was a very fine tobacco, and made without 
machinery. Around Springfield is a very fine tobacco country, 
and the way ''boot-heel" plug was made is as follows: The to- 
bacco was carefully selected, dampened, and a trace of molasses 
given to each leaf. A two-inch auger was used in boring holes 
into hickory or walnut logs, into which a strong, loose-fitting, 
flat-ended plug was fitted to act as a ramrod ; then each leaf 
was rolled up into a wad ami put into the hole, and it was 
pounded down, leaf by leaf, with this plug driven by a heavy 
maul. After the hole was mauled nearly full a new tight plug 
was driven in to hold the tobacco down, antl it stayed there 
all winter until needed for use. It was chopped out with an 
axe as needed. AVhen taken out it could be broken up into 
disks, whence its name of "boot-heel." We all liked "boot- 
heel" very much, and I do not know that I ever saw better. 
Chewing-tobacco seems to be a necessity with those who live 
on coarse food, especially those who live on pork. It appar- 
ently is a germicide favorable to man. The tobacco seems to 
go along with the food that is eaten, and to destroy antagonistic 
germs; evidently the human system calls for the hel]:). Those 
who live well and have properly cooked food in civil life do not 
seem to rec^uire the strong assistance of chewing-tobacco, and 
only the partial assistance of the much milder cigar. Hence 
man will be civilized out of the tobacco-chewing habit, some 
of these days. He will quit using tobacco when he does not 
need it. 



CHAPTER 20. 

July 16th.— Syester and I.— The Old Mill.— A Secesh Family.— Half-soling 
Shoes.- — Inflammatory Rheumatism. — Lyon Disliked. — Fault with Fre- 
mont. — July 17th. — Typhoid. — Blackberry Root. — Tribute from Dis- 

• tillery. — Whisky and Blackberr3^ — Recovery. — July 18th. — Very Short 
Rations. — Growing Dissatisfaction. — McMullin's Story. — Loyalty Among 
Regulars in Texas. — General Banks's Order. 

July 16th, Reveille at 3:30, as usual. Those were the clays 
of early rising. Back in those years there was a fad about early 
rising. "Early to rise" was the rule; my father alwaj's rose at 
4 A. M. in summer and 5 a. m. in winter. When an obituary was 
printed in the newspapers in those old days the notice always 
told at what time the deceased was in the habit of rising. My 
father always waked me when he got up. The people who ad- 
vocated only six hours of sleep were very numerous. '' We 
sleep too much," was the cry. "A person can get used to six 
hours' sleep and it is all he wants," was the statement of others. 
It was not a question then so much of the quantity of work a 
man did in a day, as, "When does he begin?" But then, every 
generation has its fads. 

We had nothing to-day for breakfast but nuish and sassafras 
tea. Syester and I determined that we would go out and hunt 
through the timber and get a "razor-back" hog. Rules were 
getting quite strict; the secesh were in large numbers within 
twenty-five miles of us; our cavalry were continually on the 

(21.3) 



214 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

scout so as to keep eye on them and gather forage and cattle. 
As there were no better scouts than roaming infantry, our 
company was allowed five permits every day to rove the country. 
Syester and I got permits, and started out. We went about 
three miles northwest; found an old mill, not running. We 
runmiaged around it. In the office I found a worn volume of 
Burritt's Astronomy; this was a prize. We found a piece af 
6-inch belting; this was also a prize. AVe could half-sole shoes 
with it. Saw a house afar off, and went there. We got all the 
bread and buttermilk we could eat for 25 cents each. Started 
on home, and found a cabin with a cross old woman in charge. 
She told us that we were the first Yankee soldiers she had seen. 
She said that all the people in her neighborhood were from 
Tennessee. She called it Ten-i-c}^ She had some onions in a 
little garden; we asked her if she wanted to sell any of them; 
she said, yes, at 25 cents a dozen ; we told her that they were 
worth only 5 ; she said she expected good prices from Yankees, 
and gold and silver at that. We asked her what kin she had in 
the secesh army, and she said, "All I have — a husband, three 
sons, two brothers, two brothers-in-laws, and a son-in-law, — 
that's nine, and we will never give up." We bade her good- 
by, and went toward camp; we never saw a "razor-back" that 
day. After my return I got the harness-awl that Tom Ryan 
made, and half-soled my shoes. It was a neat job. I got an 
oak stick, then I made an awl-hole in the leather, then I whittled 
down the stick to a point and drove it in and cut it off even 
with the hole; then made another hole, whittled the stick, 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 215 

(li'ovt' it in and cut it off again. It was slow work, hut it was 
a good job, and did nic cxcollont service. I turned the k'ather 
helting over to the other boys, and it was used up by them for 
half-soles. That night I had a funny experience. We were all 
sleeping on the ground as usual. We had been telling stories 
as usual, and I had fallen asleep. We always slept with our 
clothes on. I woke up with the greatest pain in my left shoul- 
der ; it was excruciating. My shoulder ached so that I could 
not help shouting. I never had such an ache in my life before 
or after. I writhed around on the ground in the greatest agony. 
A lot of the men got up and came to me; among others was 
the Fife-major, Kilmartin. Pie said, "I know what is the mat- 
ter with him — he has got a touch of inflammatory rheumatism." 
He got a camp-kettle of creek-water and a big tin cup, and 
stood up high on a box that we used as a mess-table; he had 
them take off my shirt and hold me down on the ground and 
\w stood on the table as high as jjossible and raised the tin cup 
of water as high as possible, and commenced dripping it down 
at a height of about ten feet onto my shoulder. One tin- 
cupful lightened the pain, a second one did much more, a third 
and a fourth stopped it. It took only five quarts of water to 
entirely end the pain, and I slept peacefully and soundly for 
the balance of the night. I ne^Tn• had the same kind of pain 
again in all my life. I never could explain it. Kilmartin, the 
Fife-major, had been in the Mexican ^\siv, and when made 
Fife-major of the regiment wanted to be conspicuous ; he bought 



216 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

my zouave jacket aiul rod trousers, on whicli lie owes me ten 
dollars whicli he has never i)ai(l. His services that night led 
me to never ask him for it. 

We began to dislike General L}'on ver}^ much. He never 
seemed to sleep any, he never smiled, he always appeared ner- 
vous and irritated, and he never had a pleasant word for an}'- 
body. We made up our minds that he did not care much for 
us and we did not care much for him. The report came that we 
had got about all the beef cattle there were in the country, and 
that mills at Springfield were grinding up all the corn which 
could be found and brought in. All the Government furnished 
us on the 16th was corn-meal and salt. We were told that coffee 
and bacon were on the way from Rolla to us. We foimd all 
kinds of fault with Fremont for not hurrying things u}) and re- 
enforcing us with men and supplies. 

On July 17th we arose at the usual hour of early dawn; 
my mush breakfast WTut back on me and I found that I 
was sick. I had a raging case of diarrhea, and wanted to drink 
all the w^ater in the creek. It was reported that two men of the 
regiment had died of typhoid fever, and I thought that I might 
have it. The doctor came to see me and told me that I did not 
have tyi)hoid, luit that I needed some Dovers pow^ders, which he 
would send. I always o]:)jected to medicine, did not know what 
Dovers powders were, and I made up my mind that I wasn't sick, 
anyway. My symptoms increased, until at noon I was in great 
pain. Old Mace came to me and told me he knew exactly what 
to do, and for me to wait. He went out with the company 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 217 

spade, luinted a black! )oriy patcli, dug up a lot of the roots, came 
in and washed them clean, cut them up into pieces and began to 
simmer them on the fire. About 5 r. m. I began to drink this 
bitter astringent decoction. I knew what it was, and hence it 
was not ''medicine." Medicine is something that we don't know 
what it is. Old Mace made me about three quarts of this; after 
I had th-ank a quart, a pleasant circumstance occurred; it was 
this : Five men of our company had got leave in the forenoon 
to roam for the balance of the day, and^they started to go out 
where nobody else had been. When out about three miles in 
the timber they heard of a whisky-still running, about a mile 
further down in the timber. Corporal Churubusco was in charge 
of the squad. They started quickly for the still; on arriving 
tliere and finding it in full blast the corporal went up to the still- 
house door and halted his squad and ordered them to "fix bayo- 
nets"; then he demanded to know who was in charge; when 
the man was pointed out, the corporal arrested him and ordered 
him to march off in front of a fixed bayonet ; after going a little 
way the still-house man wanted to have a private talk witl> the 
corporal, and on getting oft" to one side he started in to l)ribe the 
corporal. The corporal allowed himself to be bribed. That was 
what he wanted. He took the man back and left him at the 
still, but brought of!" a demijohn of whisky and each canteen in 
the party was filled. It was at about 6 p. m. that the corporal 
cauK^ in and turned me over a canteen of whisky, which, al- 
though new and highly flavored with fusel oil, was very wel- 
come. I mixed one decoction with the other — blackberry root 



218 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

and whisky. It had a taste the Hke of which cannot be found 
in any cook-book or pharmacopoeia, but I stayed with it, and in 
twelve hours was welL In the afternoon of the 17th we drew 
one-eighth ration of hard-tack, l^alance corn-meal. I had a 
cracker for supper. 

During the years before the war, after the panic of 1857, there 
was a series of years that were indeed ''hard times." A song 
originated during those days called "Hard Times," and its re- 
frain ran like this : 

"It's t!ic song and the sigh of the weai\y. 

Hard times, hard times, come again no more; 
Long time have you lingered around my cabin door, 
O hard times come again no more." 

A man in Co. "C" named Fowler wrote a verse shortly after 
we left Boonville and it was considerabh^ sung, and finally ran 
into many verses, on "Hard Tack come again no more." I 
have one only verse ; it ran as follows : 

"There's a lazy, hungry soldier and he lies around all day; 
His clothes are torn, his better days are o'er; 
He sighs for nice hot biscuits, and spring chickens far away, 
O Hard Tack come again no more. 

"It's the song and the sigh of the weary. 

Hard tack, hard tack, come again no more; 
Long time have you lingered around the cook-tent door, 
O Hard Tack come again no more." 

There were lots of other verses to it, but after we had been 
through "Camp Mush" No. 1 and had got to "Camp Mush" 
No. 2, Mr. Fowler changed the text and got up some new verses, 
of which I have retained only one, as follows: 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 219 

"It's the song and the sigli of the hungry, 

• Hard Tack, Hard Tack, come again once more; 
You were old and very wormy, but you're pie beside that mush, — ■ 
O Hard Tack, come again once more." 

In that latter sentiment we all joined, and we sang it lustily. 

On July 18th we were up at 3:30, as usual. We drew a 
quarter of fresh beef, some corn-meal, and a mess-pan full of 
salt. I got a piece of the beef and roasted it over the company 
fire on the end of my steel musket-ramrod. The weather was 
very hot and the grumbling over the rations was very loud, but 
it was explained to us that the rebels were all around us and 
that we could not get any supplies or assistance from St. Louis 
or Rolla. There were two roads from Rolla to Springfield, one 
called the ''high" road and the other called the "low" road. 
The "high" road was also called the "ridge road," because it 
ran on ridges; it was the longer, had fewer good camping- 
places, and was the lesser traveled. Bands of rebels were harry- 
ing both roads. There was a good deal of feeling against Lyon 
on account of the way we were fed and on account of our lying 
around, neither keeping our lines in the rear open nor going out 
and having a fight. We felt that we were inactively going to 
pieces, as a command, and that we would soon all be either 
starved to death or captured. The feeling against him was 
growing. The boys wanted to fight and they wanted some- 
thing to eat; they had no tents; they were outdoors, the sun 
was very hot, and they were hungry. It was always with horror 
that they afterwards remembered "Camp Mush." During this 
day, 18th, I went over to the battery forge to fix the hook on 



220 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

my gun-sling. There were the battery horses eating the same 
food as we, some of it cooked into mush and some mixed up with 
w^ater into a mash ; I was sorry that I could not eat it with the 
relish that the horses did. While at the battery I got into a 
talk with an old regular army soldier that was really interest- 
ing. The story which he told deserves to be perpetuated. His 
name was McMullin, and the story runs this way : 

He said that he was in the regular army in Texas, and that 
during the winter of 1860-61 the officers were all the time talk- 
ing to the soldiers about joining the Confederate army. The 
soldiers were all promised lieutenancies if they would go into 
the rebel service, and more, too. They were promised a dis- 
charge, and payment to date, and then were to have a commis- 
sion, and be sent immediately to the State where commissioned, 
or were to have a leave to visit their friends, and then after sixty 
days to report to the State where they were to be commissioned. 
McMillan said that the boys talked it over in the barracks 
privately, and none of them were anxious, and all felt like stay- 
ing with the Government ; but they were all yet in the United 
States service. It was rumored around that if they did not 
join the Confederacy they would be surrendered to the Con- 
federacy and be confined as prisoners of war. McMullin said 
that he made up his mind that if they were going to play tricks 
on the Government he would play tricks on them, and go to 
fighting them. So he pretended that he would take a lieuten- 
ancy in a Mississippi regiment if he could get discharged, and 
paid off, and given sixty days to visit his good old mother in 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 221 

north Missouri. He had no good old mother in north Missouri, 
but he got an honorable discharge and his pay and a passport 
through all the rebel lines as being a Mississippi officer, and they 
gave him a Government mule. He struck north in search of 
his good old mother, and went through the army of Rains, of 
McCullough, of Price, and into the camp of Lyon, where he en- 
listed in the artillery for three years or during the war. After 
he had left the Texas post where he was stationed, it was sur- 
rendered to the Confederates. The men would not join. He 
said the men planned to take their officers prisoners and all 
march north, but they w^re surrounded and were made to sur- 
render afterwards, though he was not with them then. He said 
that many other soldiers did as he did, with the plan of going 
north and getting into the army and going back to help punish 
the treason. He had no good to speak of the officers: he saitl 
that they were all traitors ; but in this he was perhaps partially 
mistaken. Long afterwards, while I was still in the army, a 
document came out that so well corroborated McMullin that I 
take leave to give it in full. It is a wonderful story of loyalty 
and fortitude : 

"General Orders, } Headquarters, Department of 

No. 31. S THE Gulf, 19th Army Corps, 

Opelousas, April 25, 1863. 

''Sergeants Brady, Stapleton, McCormick, Renhardt, Sheble, 
Neal, Harris, Darken, Brannan, and two hundred and sixty- 
nine men of the Eighth Infantry, Army of the LTnitcd States, 
whose names are affixed, having been exchanged by the rebel 
Government, whose prisoners they were, arrived at New Orleans 
on the 25th of February, 1863, and a portion of them, under 



222 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

command of Lieutenant Copley Amory, Fourth Cavalry, reached 
this post on the 23d instant, to share with us the honor of this 
campaign. It has been deemed but an act of justice to these 
gallant men to relieve them from this service, and to expedite 
their return to the North. They separate from the command 
this day. In honor of their departure, the Commanding General 
has ordered a national salute, and a similar honor will be paid 
them at their departure from New Orleans. Captain Bain- 
bridge, at Opelousas, and Brigadier-General Sherman, at New 
Orleans, are charged with the execution of this order. 

"These troops w^re shamefully and unconditionally sur- 
rendered to the rebel authorities in Texas, by their commanders, 
on the 9th day of May, 1861. Separated from their officers, 
divided into squads, and removed to different posts on the 
frontiers of Texas, deprived of pay for more than two years, 
they were subjected to degrading labors, supplied with scanty 
food and clothing, and sometimes chained to the ground, or 
made to suffer other severe military punishments. Recruit- 
ing officers visited them daily, offering them conunissions and 
large bounties, to desert their flag. Notwithstanding the false 
reports of the overthrow of their Government, which seduced 
so many men of higher pretensions and position, unsustained 
by counsel with each other, with few exceptions they repelled 
the bribes and avoitled the treason. Those who chose a differ- 
ent course, did it to escape their prison. 

"No Government had ever more loyal supporters. Officers 
of the army and navy, to whom they had a right to turn for 
counsel and example, who had been educated by the Govern- 
ment, who never received a month's pay that was not drawn 
from its coffers, nor bore an honor that it did not confer, at the 
first suggestion of treason betrayed the mother that nursed them, 
and deserted the flag that protected them. With every branch 
of the Government within their control, and the continent under 
their feet, they yielded to the indecency and folly of the re- 
bellion, and without a shadow of cause sought to blacken the 
name of America and Americans, by fastening upon them the 
greatest crime of human history — ^that of destroying the best 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 223 

government ever framed, and annihilating the holies of the 
human race in repubhcan hberty. Thank God! The ofiicers 
could not corrupt the men they commanded. Not a soldier nor 
a sailor voluntarily abandoned his post. The poisonous subtle- 
ties of secession never touched the hearts of the people, nor 
led them to substitute the guilty ambition of popular, vulgar, 
low-bred provincialism for the hallowed hopes of national 
patriotism. 

"Soldiers! Let the gallant men that part from us to-day re- 
ceive the honors they deserve! Let them hear the peal of can- 
non, the cheers of the line! Let them receive, wherever they 
go, the homage of the army and navy together — ^the army and 
navy forever ! 

"By command of Major-General Banks: 

Richard B. Irwin, Adjutant." 



CHAPTER 21. 

July 19th. — Hard Storm. — Diary Saved. — Raw Dough. — Longmg for Dis- 
charge. — Ordered to Springfield. — ^Coffee and Corn-meal. — Burritt's 
Astronomy. — My Constellation. — The Stars. — Captain Schofield. — Our 
Chaplain. — July 20th. — Sponge-Cake. — Springfield. — RoUa. — The Ridge 
Road. — Letters and Newspapers. — Money and Purchases. — Soap. — 
March to James River. — July 21st. — General Sweeney. — New Sort of 
People. — Ozark. — Toad of Whisky. — The Distribution. — Right Dress. 

On July 19th the bugle sounded at 3:30 a. m., but no- 
body was awakened, because everybody was awake. At mid- 
night a storm began that was unusuaL The wind began to 
blow, and soon a cyclonic gale was in progress. We had no 
tents, and we just stayed and stouted it out. All the head- 
quarters tents were blown down and away. Some of them 
were afterwards recovered tlown in the timlx'r. The rain fell 
in torrents. It seemed to be in ropes hanging down. The 
lightning struck around with indescribable noise. It cut 
through the air with a siz-z-z. We smelled it. A piece of ar- 
tillery was hit. The artillery boys were holding onto their 
horses by the halters and following them around in their frantic 
capers. So with the company teams. A lot of the horses were 
panic-stricken and got away, and made for the tall timber. 
Wagons were blown over. We fixed bayonets to our guns and 
stuck the bayonets down in the ground to nearly the muzzle 
and let them stand off a hundred feet from us ; this kept the wa- 
ter out of the barrel and did not attract the lightning. I saved 

(224) 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 225 

iny diary by turning a mess-pan upside down -and putting my 
diary with its oilcloth case on the mess-pan, and then turning 
another mess-pan down over it and sitting on the mess-pans. 
When the bugle called in the morning it was pouring down, and 
none of us had slept. We were all as wet as drowned rats, and 
it kept on drizzling. The evening before we had drawn rations, 
and all we got w^as a sack of flour, 98 pounds, and a c|uart of 
salt; no meat, no coffee, "no nothing." We had skinned all 
the sassafras trees in the country, and there was little of that. 
Everything was so wet we could not make a fire or get ''break- 
fast," whatever that meant. The sack of flour had not blown 
away, but had got wet and stained with muddy water. Our 
mess got its share and Old Mace made it up into dough for what 
he called "salt-rising bread," but we could not get a fire and 
we could not wait; our mess ate the raw dough and poured 
down onto it a round of still- whisky, of which a little was left 
from Corporal Churubusco's raid. It drizzled off and on the 
whole forenoon, and the men just had to stand up and walk 
around. The want of food, clothing and tents made itself felt 
in a longing to get out of the service. The enemy were camped 
and reported to be fortified within forty miles of us. They were 
in a friendly country and were well fed; they outnumbered us 
several to one, and we expected a fight. We could not see how 
we could get any glory out of it. We did not want to get into 
a fight unless we had an even show, for we tlid not want to go 
home beaten; and nothing but repulse was in sight. I thought 
1 saw that all of my fond anticipations were ruined; we, I 



226 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

thought, will go home whipped and we can never explain it, — 
better go back to Rolla and wait for supplies and reinforce- 
ments. On the morrow our term of service expires, three 
months from April 20th. Suppose we do get discharged, then 
how will we get home? — the enemy has ten thousand cavalry. 
We talked it all over; they were very unpleasant forebodings. 
In the afternoon the sun came out hot and dried us off; a roll- 
call and inspection was held; only four-were so sick that they 
could not come up to the scratch. Our shoes were inspected, 
and nine of the boys were found to be about barefooted, and 
their names were taken, with list of sizes of shoes. We were 
told that we would march in the morning to Springfield. This 
occasioned joy. "We will go there and be shod up and marched 
home," said one, "for to-morrow our enlistment expires." This 
evening we drew half-rations of coffee, and double-rations of 
corn-meal, for the morrow. The rebels had taken about every- 
thing in the country ; they were whipping our foragers and had 
made up their minds to starve us out and take us in. 

My Burritt's Astronomy had got badly soaked, but I dried it 
out when the sun came out, and I went to stud3ang the con- 
stellations. I had already made uj) a lot of them myself and 
had got a sky-full of geometrical and animal figures of my own. 
Those who slee]) out of doors look up into the sky and cannot 
help forming constellations. It becomes a habit and a delight. 
I had got so charmed with the sky that I liked to look up into it 
and pick out the stars with which I had become familiar. It 
was so with all the boj^s : they each picked out his own jjarticu- 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 227 



lar star. Jim would say to John, "My star is the biggest." 
"No," says John, "mine is bigger than yom-'n, only it is further 
off." My particular constellation was a cup. I found out 
afterwards that it was the Corona Borealis. AVe would lie on 
the ground at night and look up at the stars and into the sky 
for hours. We talked over how little man was and wondered 
if we would ever know any more about it. Burritt's Astronomy 
was delightful. Others were as charmed as I was and read the 
book with the same pleasure that I did, and we knew all of the 
larger summer stars by name. 

It was on this day that I remember to have first seen Cap- 
tain Schofield, the Adjutant of General Lyon. Schofield was 
a handsome young man, and was full of steam, just like- Lyon. 
Lyon was a sleepless man, and so was Schofield. The latter 
finally got in command of the entire army of the United States 
as Lieutenant-General, and well deserved it. The blame for not 
getting provision down to us from Rolla was said to rest on 
Lieutenant Phil Sheridan, who was a quartermaster. But 
there must have been some mistake about this, for Sheridan 
never neglected anything, and became Lieutenant-Genei'al be- 
fore Schofield. 

This evening I again saw the so-called Chaplain of our regi- 
ment; he was a ridiculous figure: he was dressed as an officer 
in a nice uniform with a plug hat on (?) Think of that! I 
never knew of his doing any duty whatever: I never heard him 
preach, and in fact do not remember of seeing him afterwards 
except once at Forsyth, under circumstances which I will here- 



228 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

inafter describe. He was really a private soldier of Co. "I," 
as I have before stated. 

On July 20th we were up bright and early. AVe were to 
march into Springfield and were to be, of course, as we thought, 
mustered out, as our term of service had ended. We were full 
of happiness, and the sun rose with a warm welcome. Old 
Mace had been up about all night boiling corn-meal; this he 
stirred until cool and made up into ''pones," a sort of large 
biscuit, with a leaf of spicewood in each; this "spicewood" 
grew all around the rocky places near camp. The pones were 
placed in the hot ashes and slowly baked, and when it came 
time for breakfast Mace had them and the coffee ready. These 
pones were baked clear through, and we gnashed our teeth on 
them as if they had been made of sandstone. We called them 
" sponge-cakes. '^ My memorandums show, ''A cjuart of coffee 
and a sponge-cake for breakfast." 

We started, and marched to Spj-ingfield, a distance of about 
fifteen miles, by the route we went. We reached Springfield 
at about noon. Springfield is on the summit of the Ozarks, 
and was at that time a nice inland town, — not very large, but 
doing a great business. It had some large wholesale stores, 
principally grocery stores. Goods for Springfield were shipped 
from St. Louis up the Osage river to Warsaw during high water, 
and wagoned south through Bolivar, about seventy-five miles 
l)y the road, to Springfield; or were shipped up the White 
river to Forsyth, and wagoned north over the Ozarks, by a 
road of about fifty miles. The two routes just mentioned were 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 229 

the old routes; in July, 1861, goods mostly came by rail to 
Rolla and were hauled to Springfield by wagon, a distance of 
130 miles. The present railroad very nearly follows an old 
wagon-road, which was called the "ridge road." 

We were marched into the middle of the city of iSpringfield, 
halted, and told to stack arms and to reassemble at the call of 
the luigle, and were told that there was a lot of mail for us. I 
got a lot of letters, some of them a month old, two or three from 
my sister telling me all the news, also letters from the girls want- 
ing to know why their former letters were not answered, also a lot 
of newspapers giving the news in Virginia and showing that a 
big battle was in contemplation, also two letters from father 
with a good five-dollar bill in each. I went into a restaurant 
and had all I could eat, and I took along two of the good boys 
who were busted and had not heard from home. I then went 
into a confectionery store and drank all kinds of soda-water, 
while I wrote a big letter home on the white wrapping-paper 
of the store. I bought a new pair of cool summer shoestrings, 
a new two-dollar woolen shirt, a new cotton bandana, and 
some candy. I then loaned the boys the balance of my money, 
and was now ready to march to Rolla, and be mustered out. 
I went into a hotel and washed up and got myself in shape; 
the soap in the hotel was fragrant and very slippery; it slipped 
out of my hands and onto the floor and finally slippcnl into my 
pocket, where I afterwards foimd it, nuich to my satisfaction. 

About this time our company wagon drove up and there was 
a bugle-call. We ''took" arms, and the command was, "For- 



230 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

ward — march." The weather was hot, and we soon discovered 
that we were marching south and not toward Rolla. We kept 
on marching until, after about seven miles, we reached the 
James fork of White river, where we all went into camp and 
soon all plunged into the river, just below a dam and a covered 
bridge. The weather was hot, but the water was cool and we 
stayed in until dusk. We were all the time wondering what 
was up and where we were going. We were all puzzled; it 
was evident we were not going home. The company wagon had 
four days' rations of l^acon, four of coffee, half-rations of hard- 
tack, and a lot of big wheat loaves as big as buckets and with 
a shell on as hard as a turtle. We got supper, and before dark 
a storm came down from the northwest that was cold and 
chilly. It rained steadily all night. We got very little 
sleep. We could not cook breakfast, l^ut took a snack of raw 
pork and bread. AVe started late in a southerly direction in 
the morning; the teams could hardly get through the mud. 
We went very slowly, and had to help the teams and keep to- 
gether, for we feared the rebel cavalry, some of whom we saw 
in the distance. There were only six companies of our regi- 
ment on the trip, as we found when we got ])ast Springfield ; 
the other foiu' companies stayed back for some reason which I 
never ascertained ; was told they were sent to protect a mill. 
Our six companies made about 500 men. Along with us was 
Captain Stanl(\v, of the First Regular U. S. Cavalry. There 
were about 200 of them; then there was the Second Kansas 
Infantry, under Colonel Robert B. Mitchell (afterwards Briga- 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 231 

dier). This Second Kansas Regiment in coming through Mis- 
souri had captured some horses, so that a part were mounted 
and calle(l themselves "Kansas Rangers." I should say that 
there were a hundred of them; then there were four pieces of 
artillery under Totten; there was also a squad of ITnion natives, 
clad in all sorts of clothes and armed with shotguns and rifles 
and carrying powderhorns and shot-bags. The entire force 
numbered 1800, and was under the command of Clc^neral 
Sweeney, the loyal Irish Lieutenant who was with L}'on in the 
beginning at St. Louis. He had one arm off, and was a pic- 
turescjue sight on a horse. He was a typical Irishman, full of 
fun, strict in (liscii)line, and with a kind word for everybody. 
We all liked him very much. 

On July 21st, as stated, we started late and trudged through 
the nuid. Wc were going south and getting into the breaks 
of the Ozark Mountains. We followed the main-traveled 
road used by the teams in freighting goods from Forsyth to 
Springfield and in freighting furs and skins back. The road 
had then been traveled for thirty years, and was well worn. The 
])eople on the line of road were all from Kentucky and Ten- 
nessee. I had begun to notice a change in the personnel of the 
people: they were all lean, and there were very many of a new 
tyi)e, that is, black hair and blue eyes. At first th(>y seemed 
to me to be misfits, for black hair and blue eyes do not seem to 
go together, but they did there; and it finally grew, as we went 
on, to be the prevailing type. I found out that men of that 
type were good fighters. They all seemed to be from the moun- 



232 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

tains of East Kentucky and East Tennessee. We also began 
to find very many loyal people, and women and men rode along- 
side of us on horseback with little home-made American flags 
in their hands. It was explained that the country into which 
we were coming was not a slave-owning population and was 
not in favor of fighting the United States. It was afternoon 
before we struck the little straggling village of Ozark; it had 
some good large stores. There was a mill there and we got a 
lot of flour, perhaps two wagon-loads. A man fearing our ap- 
proach was running off a wagon-load of whisky; he had it 
stored in town but lived two or three miles south. He was in 
town and heard of our approach, and loaded his team to haul 
it off, but he loaded too heavily and he got stuck in the mud 
out on the edge of town, and the cavalry got him and made him 
haul his load back into town. It had rained all the forenoon 
and was raining when we went into town. We took a lunch 
of raw side-meat and crackei's. There was a large lot of boots 
in the stores, and those of oiu* men who really needed boots got 
them. The storekeeper was a prominent secesh, and what we 
wanted we took. Finally the bugle called, and we got into line 
and waited; the first sergeants were called to the front of the 
long line; it was alwut a half-mile long. Soon the first ser- 
geants came each to his company with something filled with 
whisky; some had Inickets, some had crocks, and some had 
very inappropriate earthen jars. Each sergeant had a half- 
]jint tin cup, and all along the line at the call of the bugle each 
sergeant beginning at the head of his company began giving 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 233 

each mail a half tin cuj) ot" the whisky; this the sohhcr took 
into his own tin cup and (h'ank at leisure. (JencM-al Sweeney 
was riding up and down the line. As the issue began at the head 
of our company, the boys at the other end naturally got ex- 
cited and wanted to see the fun and were anxious for the stuff 
to get down their way. The utensil that carried the whisky 
was not large enough to go more than half-way down the line, 
and by that time the tail of the company was bent around like 
a fish-hook. The orderly sergeant went off to refill, and while 
he was gone General Sweeney rode up in the rain and shouted 
"Right dress!" 'T^et back there, get back!" The boys, 
taken somewhat by surprise, were a little slow, when the General 
shouted, "Right dress there, right dress! I'm pretty drunk, 
but I could right dress if I were you." Back into the line the 
boys went, and with the rain dripping down their noses laughed 
at the good-natured general. Of course he was not drunk, nor 
l)artly drunk, but that was the way he got at it, and that was 
why the boys liked him. The boys would do anything for Gen- 
eral Sweeney. Finally we all got all we wanted, and started 
off singing the "Happy Land of Canaan." Under the influ- 
ence of the whisky the whole regiment got good-natured and 
happy, and went into camp about three and one-half miles 
southeast of Ozark. The rain w^as still falling, and the regi- 
ment was wet and tired but happy. 

We had seen some Confederate cavalry south of town who 
disai)peared in tlie brush, and it was the bad luck of our com- 
pany to be detailed on picket that night. We went about a 



234 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

half-iiiilo south to whore the roads forked, and ostabhshed our 
picket-post. \\v tore down fence and built a good stout rail 
l)en so that the rebel cavahy could not run over us, and then 
with our arms in our embrace we tried to sleep alternate hours 
until morning. AVe were ordered to make no fire and no noise ; 
it rained and drizzled all night, so we got but little sleep. We 
had no tents or shelter. 




CAPT. THOMAS W. SWEENY, 
Second U. S. Infantry, as he appeared on the Forsyth Campaign. 




THOVAS VJ. SV, EC NY, 

As Brigadier-General U. S. A , 25 years after the battie of Wilson Creek, wfiere 

lie was wounded. 



CHAPTER 22. 

July 22d.— The Cards Sacrificed.— The Forests.— Chert.— The Ozark Moun- 
tains. — Wheat. — The Loom. — The Prophecy. — Double-quick Three 
Miles. — Twenty-nine-Mile March. — Shell into Court-House. — Capture 
of Forsyth. — On Guard. — Refugees. — Atrocities. — I^nion Sentiment. — • 
Union Territory. — Stone County. — July 23d. — The Chaplain. — The 
Bandanas. — Jaynes' Carminative Balsam. — Prisoners. — Prison Pen. 
— Parol. 

On the Morning of July 22d at call of bugle we went into 
camp, and by tearing clown an old log stable managed to get 
enough dry wood to start a good fire, and made a cjuart of hot 
coffee all around. My Burritt's Astronomy got to be a mass 
of pulp and I had to throw it away. I parted with it sadly. 
The mess deck of cards got wet and swelled up like a bunch of 
shingles, and was sadly consigned to the fire in the presence of 
the grief-stricken mess. General Sweeney in the morning said : 
"Boys, you have got a hard day's march ahead of you to-day; 
save your strength all you can. You may have a little fight 
before night." We then startetl southerly over the chert hills. 
Missouri, in that part, must have been at one time covered with 
a heavy limestone ledge full of flint nodules. There are places 
in Kansas on high lands where this vast limestone ledge yet 
remains, and in the valleys the flints are packed in the bottom 
of the watercourses. This great ledge had been dissolved in 
the portion of Missouri of which I am speaking, and the hills 
were covered with the flint, which is there called "chert." In 
this chert, on the hills, the blackjack, a species of oak, densely 

(235) 



236 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

grows, while in the bottoms are fine specimens of oak, wahmt 
and other woods. Upon the hills every once in a while we saw 
a clump of pine, and occasionally we passed a cabin, where 
were sheaves of the finest wheat. The artillery horses ate the 
sheaves of wheat. That's the way it is in war — the artillery 
horse eats the w^heat and the women and children go hungry. 
The road finally turned down into Swan creek, an insignificant 
little stream and not named on the map, but now a river; it 
was waist-deep, and we waded it and crossed it about every 
half-mile. We stopped at noon, and opposite our regiment 
on the side-hill was a rude double log cabin. I went over to it 
out of curiosity, and looking in I saw a girl of about thirteen, 
weaving cloth. She was nearly scared to death, but I told her 
to go on; that I wanted to see how weaving was done. She 
made the loom go fast. A tubful of brown-black walnut dye 
was out on the porch. An old woman was rocking backward 
and forward as if she were much perturbed. I asked her if 
there were many secesh round these parts. She said: "No, 
not so many as you might think; there are lots more Union 
men here than secesh. I've been reading the Bible right smart 
all my life, and I knowed there was going to be a war. It's 
prophesied in the Bible. And I've told some of these people 
that if they go to war they will get whipped, because it's proph- 
esied in the Bible. The North always whips the South in the 
Bible, and, besides, this war was foretold and the North is to 
whip the South." The bugle sounded, and I had to go with- 
out reading the prophecy. I have told this story to many a 
clergyman and asked for a solution, but have never got it. 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 237 



We went on down the creek ; we waded it I guess twenty 
times, and kept soaked from the waist down. Finally the road 
turned to the right and crept up on the ridge, which was not 
very high nor steep, and our road became a slight down grade. 
Finally it was getting along towards sundown, and we had gone 
that day without sleep twenty-six miles. All at once General 
Sweeney dashed up and said: "Forward double-quick! Go it, 
boys, — don't stop 'til you catch 'em!" A double-quick is 165 
steps a minute and 28 inches to the step, as the drill then was. 
For boys that hatl not been very well fed and hadn't had much 
sleep for some time, and had marched twenty-six miles, an 
order for double-quick with our load came un welcomed, but 
the boys got in motion and under headway, and began on the 
"Happy Land of Canaan." The road was slightly down-grade, 
and at it we went, and, incredible as it may appear, we kept 
it up for three miles, until we reached the secesh, a total of 
twenty-nine miles. General Sweeney says in his official report 
that we double-quicked four miles. The artillery horses were 
crowded down-hill, and the cavalry were pushed out to the 
flanks as skirmishers; we went in yelling. As soon as a bend 
in the road brought the town in sight one of the six-pounders 
unlimbered and drew a bead on the brick county court-house. 
Our company was at the head of the regiment, and just as our 
company caught up with the artillery the gun went off. I 
watched the shell; it made a beautiful hit; it was aimed at 
the floor of the second story so that it would rip up the joists 
of the floor and then exi)lode. It went just where it was in- 



238 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

tended. It appeared that there was a big, well-advertised 
secession convention in town, and Lyon thought he could break 
it up and capture a lot of prominent secessionists and get away 
unhurt from the swarm of rebel cavalry which was west of 
Forsyth. We went rushing into town; there was some shoot- 
ing — not much. One of our men was killed, 12 of the secesh 
were killed. We had some horses killed, and Captain Stan- 
ley of the First Cavalry had a horse killed under him. Every- 
l3ody in town fled; we saw hundreds of horsemen take to the 
river and swim over with their horses. We got a lot of horses 
that the owners did not have time to unhitch. Forsyth was 
surrounded with high, wootled hills ; the scattered Confederates 
fleeing got up into the hills and, knowing that we could not get 
them, fired furtively all night. The whole thing was over in 
thirty minutes in town. The burtlen of pursuit was on the 
cavalry. We went into camp about eight p. m. and began to 
cook supper. AVe had captured some fresh beef and we had a 
good square supper. I ate about four pounds of beef. At 
about nine o'clock I had rolled up and was about to go to sleep 
when the orderly sergeant came to me and said it was my turn 
for guard duty. This announcement almost gave me heart- 
failure, for I was about as tired as a boy could be and yet stay 
alive, which I was trying my best to do. I reported for duty 
and was \n\i on the exterior camp guard. Each regiment had 
a line of guards around it, and there was placed a second line 
at some little tlistance around the whole camp, and then pickets 
outside of that; I was on the middle line. I had to go on for 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 239 

three hours. A lot of people had joined us; we had at least 
200 refugees now with us. Several came in at Forsyth. They 
offered to go on duty. I picked out four to go with me. They 
were all armed with squirrel rifles. They were all bright, sturdy- 
looking fellows of middle age. It was a beautiful moonlight 
night. We walked around and talked, and covered our terri- 
tory well. They told me strange and diabolical stories of the 
outrages being perpetrated on the Union men across the line in 
Arkansas. They kept me shuddering until my relief came. 
It seemed that in the country immediately around Forsyth the 
secession sentiment was very strong and bitter, and from there 
east and south ; but west of there, along the James river, called 
"Jeems's Fork of AVhite river," the Union sentiment was very 
strong; and there was an armed Union organization in that 
part embracing what is now the west part of Taney, the east 
part of Barry and all of Stone county, to fight and keep the 
rebels out of their territory. The said territory was moun- 
tainous, and some of the home-guards who were with us at For- 
syth had joined us en route from there. Stone county seems 
to have been almost unanimously loyal. In fact, it seemed to 
us that the further north one went in Missouri the more dis- 
loyal the communities became, and that while atrocities were 
everywhere in progress, the middle and northern half were the 
worst. This because most of the slaves were north of the cen- 
ter of the State. 

Our regiment was encamped about a half-mile from For- 
syth, on Swan creek. When my time on guard was up I went 



240 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

to camp and lay down on some grass near a tree at about 12, 
midnight, and went to sleep, courting rheumatism. 

On July twenty-third I was awakened about 8 a. m, I heard 
that the boys had taken what there was in the town, which was 
not much; I ate my breakfast and drank a ([uart of hot, strong 
coffee, and determined to go down-town and see if the boys had 
left anything that was loose. As I got right into the edge of 
town I met the Chaplain with his uniform on buttoned up to 
the chin, with his plug hat on, well corrugated; he was riding 
a lean sorrel horse with a rope headstall and rope reins. He 
was reeling up, clothes-line style, hand-and-elbow movement, 
a bolt of silk bandana handkerchiefs, woven in one piece, 
probably sixty feet long. They were thirty inches sc|uare, 
and he was dragging the piece and walking his horse slowly 
while winding it up. I asked him whei-e he got them, and if 
there were any more. He seemed puzzk^d to explain. He said 
one of the boys gave it to him ; that he did not know whether 
he ought to take it or not ; that he hated to see it wasted ; and 
wound up b}' telling me that I could cut a handkerchief off 
from the end. I proceeded to do this with alacrity, but owing 
to my haste and the wobbling of my knife I cut off two handker- 
chiefs in one piece; thanked him, and rushed into town. I ^^•as 
much too late. Everything worth taking was gone. There 
had been a large depot of rebel hats, .socks, woolen shirts, boots, 
cloth, and some blouses and pants. These were all turned 
over to the home-guards except such as our boys got first and 
needed. There was also a lot of sugar and molasses, also lead, 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 241 

salt, mule- and horseshoes. Altogether there was quite a large 
and valuable lot of military supplies. I was favored with a 
canteen of molasses, but everything else seemed gone or in the 
hands of the quartermaster. I went into the drug store, which 
was standing open and had been previously visited and examined. 
I looked around for something to carry ofT; everything that a 
man in good health would want was taken ; but there was a 
very ornamental ])ox labeled ''Jaynes' Carminative Balsam." 
It had half a dozen pint bottles that cured everything that I 
did not have. The printing was decorative and ornamental. 
There was nothing else that I could get. The box said ''take" 
Jaynes' Carminative Balsam. I looked around, and went l)ack 
to camp with my gun at "right-shoulder-shift" and fhe box of 
Carminative Balsam under my arm. I regretted that I could 
not find a red-hot stove to carry off, and I took the "Balsam" 
by special invitation of the label. I never remember of seeing the 
(^ha])lain afterwards. When I got to camp and began reading 
the labels on the box I found that it cured many things, and T 
began to think that perhaps I liad some of the things that it 
would cure. So T o]:»ened it and tasted it, but it was not good; 
it tasted like medicine. My feet were troubling me a little ; 
the 29-mile march of the day before had worn the white, dense, 
indurated porcelain cuticle through in places where wrinkles 
of the shoes impinged. The epidermis had holes in. TIk^ "Car- 
minative;" was on the bottle advertised as something that could 
))(' used internally or externally, and it was, among other things, 
an "Anti-spasmodic" antl it also cured "Afflictions of the skin." 



242 THE LYOX CAMPAIGN. 

I concluded after much thought that I did not wish to have 
any spasms, and that my skin inside of my shoes was "afflicted" 
within the meaning of the advertisement, and so I poured a 
bottle into each of my shoes; it smarted and stung so much 
that I had to get up and walk around so as to lessen the pain, 
but it turned out all right, and benefitted me greath\ 

At 10 A. M. we started back. By the time we started our 
Union friends in butternut clothes had increased to several 
hundred, and they were going back with us to Springfield ; we 
also had about 100 prisoners, some of whom had been taken 
in the town or brought in b}^ cavalry, or who had come in as 
voluntary spies and been identified l)y l^nion men who were 
with us, and arrested. The day and the weather were beautiful. 
We marched only fourteen miles; a fourteen-mile march was 
nothing — it was only gentle exercise. We got into camp about 
6 p. M. When we camped the prisoners were taken up to a high 
rail fence and ordered to tear it down and to Ixiild a rail pen, 
stake-and-rider fashion, around themselves. It was a higli cir- 
cular fence, about fifty feet across. When built, the prisoners 
were all ordered in, and it was easy to guard them. They made 
a fire on the inside and were furnished beef and corn-meal. I 
may say here, that after we got to Springfield these prisoners 
were all })aroled and sworn not to take up arms against the 
United States Government, which parole they afterwards vio- 
lated, as being a contract made under duress and not binding 
on their consciences. The only punishment for its violation 
was death. It was very hard to get them afterwards and ad- 
minister the punishment. 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 243 

A funny discussion took place in the prison-rail-pen, which 
illustrates the condition of the weapons of that day. These 
secesh were a talkative lot; and the discussion was concerning 
the relative value, as a weapon, of a revolver and a bowie- 
knife; they went into it pro and con. One set showed how 
the revolver might not work, how it might not revolve, then 
how the caj) might not go off, (in those days percussion caps 
w(>r(> sometimes uncertain,) then how the revolver might not 
"prime," then how it might ''flash in the pan," — and so on. 
One man was whittling a splinter from a walnut rail and from 
it made a bowie-knife ; he shouted to one of the adorers of the 
revolver, "Ready for me?" and rushed at him with the wooden 
bowie-knife, and they had a scuffle from which the bowie-knife 
man exultantly emerged, saying, "See that; I could have cut 
him all up before he could have worked his pistol on me." 
This sentiment explains the wonderful prominence that the 
bowie-knife had in that "good old age." It was considere'd 
a reliable and indispensable weapon. 

I talked to many of these prisoners, and they seemed to have 
emigrated mostly from Georgia and South Carolina. 



CHAPTER 23. 

July 24th. — Return to Springfield. — Order of March. — Rebel CaA^alry.— 
Shoes and Moccasins. — Beautiful Country. — ^The Forests and Streams. 
Roasting-ears. — Scientific Corn-cooking. — July 25th.— Return to Jeems's 
Fork. — ^Hot Weather. — Arrive at Springfield. — Mail and Money. — Bull 
Run. — General Scott. — Fuss and Feathers. — Fremont. — Benton. — Fight 
or Discharge. — Soda-water, Pie and Candy. — Dress Parade. — Lyon's 
General Order. — Brigade Organization. — Schofield's Published Letter. — 
Corpular Mace. 

On July 24th we were up at 3 :30, as usual. Corporal Churu- 
busco said: ''Six hours of sleep for a man, seven for a woman, 
and eight for a fool." Bill of fare for breakfast: coffee, beef, 
and hard-tack. Camp-rumor said we were surrounded, and 
might be cut off from Springfield. In the light of subsequent 
events I do not see why we were permitt(^d by the rebels to 
return, ^^'e did not fully realize the danger we were in. We 
marched Imck slowly because wq had to march slowly. A lot 
of Confederate cavalry and guerrillas kept hanging on our rear. 
Our march was something like this : An advance company of 
cavalry, ^^•ith a flank patrol. These men being deplojT'd out 
at an interval of twenty yards each, kept us from falling into 
ambush. Back nearly half a mile were about 500 infantry as 
an advance guard for the cavalry to rally on in case of emer- 
gency ; back of these was the artillery, flanked on each side by 
a company of infantry to repel a dash of rebel cavalry. Back 
of these came the wagon-train with a flank patrol of cavalry, and 
a detail of eight men to each wagon as a wagon-guard. The 
wagons were kept solidly together and hence moved slowly. 

(244) 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 245 

Back of the train, close up, came the main body, and hack of 
thcni 200 yards were twenty infantry and two cavalrymen. The 
rebels rode all around us all day; thvy fired at us from long 
range; they kept right up with our rear guard, and we expected 
they would give us what was called ''the running bulge," — dash 
through us and wreck our train and stampede the horses and 
nuiles. Bill Huestis said: "I wish I was home. Why didn't 
1 send my big brother?" 

We marched this day only fifteen miles ; it had got so that we 
did not consider fifteen miles as a full day's work, but this day 
was over the breaks of the Ozarks ; the ground was very broken 
and the soil and road rocky and cherty. Lots of the boys were 
suffering for want of good shoes, as the roads had cut out the 
soles. Several of the boys had thrown away their shoes and 
made moccasins out of deerskins. A pair of moccasins could 
he made in thirty minutes. Several tied gunny-sacking over 
their soleless shoes. No one really suffered; everybody took 
things good-naturedly; the boj^s were resourceful, and did not 
have to suffer. If our boys had been at Valley Forge there 
would have been no blood on the snow. 

The country through which we marched, while rough and 
flinty, was nevertheless a most beautiful country ; the hills 
and groves were captivating, but above all, the springs and 
streams : they had a crystalline flash and beauty that enchanted 
us. It had stopped raining, the roads were no longer muddy, 
and the streams were no longer discolored. They were running 
with water as pellucid as air and sunlight. The trees were not 



246 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

m (lon,se thickets, as they become in an old country; the forest 
fires swept the country every fall or spring and burned out the 
masses of fallen leaves, and destroyed the underbrush. The 
woods were more like groves or parks ; the fires kept them 
thinned out, and one could see anywhere a deer if within 100 
yards. The trees were often very gnarly, owing to the experi- 
ence through which they had to grow, but it made the forests 
beautiful, and all among the trees the grass grew in w41d luxuri- 
ance. The march of July 24th, although the weather was warm, 
was the most enchanting and enjoyable of any in the campaign, 
in spite of the situation and dangers, and we often referred to it 
in our conversations afterwards. 

We camped in the evening at the same place where we camped 
in going down — three and one-half miles southeast of Ozark 
City. Our company did not intend to go into camp on arrival, 
but were temporarily detailed, and marched off to one side as 
a picket-post until the regular details could be made. Near 
this post, about half a mile west of camp, was a log cabin in a 
clearing and some early corn, and we got a lot of roasting-ears 
which we took back into camp when we were relieved, which 
was about sundown. How to cook these roasting-ears was a 
problem \\-hicli Old Mace soon solved by burying them in 
the ashes of the big camp-fire and putting some wood over 
them and making the fire stronger. From time to time Old 
Mace raked out the corn and threw some of it back in again 
and buried it. It was cooked deliciously and withal scientifi- 
cally; it was boiled in its own juice; the moisture in the ^reen 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 247 

husks l)oilod the corn, and hy the time the husks were (h-ied 
u]) in the fire, and burned off, the ear was cooked. I have often 
wondered since why we l3oil the corn, in our modern system of 
cooking, and boil the good and fragrant part out of it and waste 
it instead of boihng the corn -juice into it. After this we often 
put the corn with husk into the ashes in the evening and let 
it slowly boil itself all night, so as to have it for breakfast in the 
morning. 

Our pickets were fired on considerably during the night, but 
no damage was done and we slept soundly until reveille. 

On July 25th we were up at 3 :30 and started at sunrise. We 
marched by the same road that we came down on, to the bridge 
and dam on "Jeems's Fork of White river," where we ah went 
in swinnning on the Saturday before (2()th), and where we had 
the cold storm. We halted here to let the teams rest and then 
to let them pull out ahead, wdiile we went in swimming and took 
a lunch. One of the boys here took in a "razor-back" that 
happened to incautiously approach the edge of the timber and 
survey the camp ; we toasted him in pieces on the ends of our 
steel I'amrods. We resumed our march feeling very blithe and 
gay, although the heat in the afternoon was soaring up to 100 
degrees. We marched into Springfield and had a halt, and a 
lai-ge (luantity of mail was delivered to us. It was all old and 
of various dates, showing that it had traveled an^md and been 
held up luitil it coukl be forced through to us ; among others 
was a letter from my sister, mailed June 19th, more than a 
month before; but I was glad to get it. There was also a five- 



24S THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

dollar bill for mo, and I was glad to get it. AA'o also got some 
newspapers, and heard for the first time of the battle of ''Bull 
Run." That battle very much discouraged us. We felt that 
the South had not only the best arms and eciuipments, and had 
])een drilling longer, and were more preparetl, but hatl in addi- 
tion to all that the l^est, most active and most effective officers, 
having had the choice of the old regular army. Besides that, 
there was no confidence in Lieutenant-General Scott ; he had got 
the name of "Old Fuss and Feathers," and the ridicule seemed 
to be deserved. On the other hand, General Fremont had been 
in connnand of our d{>partment at St. Louis since July 9th, 
and we had not been supplied with either clothes, food, or re- 
inforcements. If there ever was an empty, spread-eagle, show- 
off, horn-tooting general, it was Fremont. I have no time 
here to go into the story of his eccentricities and follies, but we 
all despised him forever and forever more. He had no abili- 
ties of any kind. He married the daughter of one of the greatest 
men (Senator Benton) that ever graced the Senate of the Unitetl 
States, or any other Senate. The daughter was a great woman 
herself; she and her father tried to make something out of him, 
spent money advertising him, and ran a literary bureau in puff- 
ing him and exploiting his alleged talents. They got Fremont 
aml^itious details, and gave him chances for great deeds, braced 
him up with good advice, and gave him the advantage of the 
most intelligent and judicious guidance. He was weak and 
vain, and with a heavy touch of what "Orpheus C. Kerr" 
called the "damphool." If he had been elected President in 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 249 

1858, things would have gone greatly different; the South was 
ready for war; they would have seceded; Fremont would have 
l)een wholly incompetent; the North defeated, and the Union 
broken up. 

Lincoln seemed to be having at this time much troubl(\ He 
was caricatured and abused. He had begun i-aising a beard, 
and it was nuich ridiculed. All of the politicians seemed to be 
trying to make his job a hard one. Lincoln in whiskers lookcHJ 
more ''ugly" than ever. They seemed to make him look silly; 
and in the coarse engravings of the times he ajjpeared uni)re- 
possessing. He was smooth-shaven before election and during 
his contest with Douglas. There was a virility about his un- 
shaven face which attracted attention. It set a man to guess- 
ing. It had no curves of loeauty ; it was unusual ; it was coarse ; 
it had no lines of weakness, and it demanded attention. An 
observer instinctively said to himself: "I wonder what kind 
of a man it is behind that kind of a face?" Whiskers changed 
this : he was as much concealed by them as if he wore a mask. 
H(> could not have been nominated for the presidency if he 
had worn whiskers. Ridicule made the most of this, and Lin- 
coln now looked weak and unattractiv(\ As the mails brought 
us the illustrated* literature of the day and we looked at Lin- 
coln's recent pictures we made all sorts of comments, among the 
mildest of which were "0, rats!" 

The jjattle of Bull Run, together with our treatment by Fre- 
m )nt, was the occasion of our discussing considerably whether 
we were goinff to be mustered out or not. We felt that, we were 



250 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

being neglected and ill-treated, and that our services to the 
Government were of no value and that it would end in our dis- 
grac(\; we did not want to go home whipped. The more we 
talked about this thing the more earnest we got. Our time had 
been out July 20th. We demanded now that we either have a 
fight or a discharge. We wanted both, antl that became the 
feeling and sentiment of the regiment, "A Jight or a discharge.'' 

In Springfield I took my five-dollar bill and filled myself and 
Corporal Bill up on soda-water, pie, and candy. I bought four 
sheets of assorted emery-paper for ten cents, concerning which 
I will say more hereafter. I wrote a lot of letters home and to 
various j^ersons, but the letters never, any of them, r(>ached 
their destination. 

We encamped southwest of town and had a dress parade, for 
the first time for a long while. AVe were the raggedest, toughest- 
looking lot of soldiers ever seen, but we could drill all right, and 
could form as straight a line, and go through the "Manual of 
Arms" as well as the best dressed soldiers in the world. At dress 
l)arade one of General Lyon's general orders was read, as follows : 

Springfield, Mo., July 24, 1861. 
The following brigade organizations will take effect from this 
(late: 

FIRST BRIGADE. 

Major S. D. Sturgis, First U. S. Cav., commanding, will con- 
sist of — 

Companies '' B, " " C, " " D, " and " I, " First U. S. Cavalry. 

Company "C," Second U. S. Dragoons. 

Light Co. ''F," Second U. S. Artillery. 

Companies ''B," "C," and "D," First U. S. Infantry. 

Lieut. H. C. Wood's company of recruits. 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 251 

SECOND BRIGADE. 

Colonel Sio;pl, Missouri Volunteers, commanding, will consist 
of— 

Third Regiment of Missom'i Infantry Vols. 
Fifth Regiment of Missouri Infantry Vols. 
Major Backof's battalion of Artillery Vols. 

THIRD BRIGADE. 

Lieut. Col. G. L. Andrews, of First Mo. Vol. Inf., commanding, 
will consist of — 

First Regiment of Missouri Infantry Vols. 

Companies "B" and "E," Second U. S. Infantry. 

Lieut. W. L. Lothrop's company of recruits. 

Lieut. C. E. Farrand's company of recruits. 

Lieut. John V. DuBois' Light Battery U. S. 

Major Osterhaus' battalion. Second Mo. Infantry Vols. 

FOURTH BRIGADE. 

Colonel George W. Deitzler, First Kans. Inf., commanding, to 
consist of — 

First Kansas Infantry- Vols. 
Second Kansas Infantiy Vols. 

This order was signed by J. M. Schofield as Asst. Adjt. Genl. 

When this order was read and we were not mentioned and 
not brigaded, we thought it meant that we were left out, to be 
immediately discharged, and we emphasized our demand, "A 
fight or a discharged In addition to this there was published in 
the papers a letter by Adjutant-General Schofield in which he 
said to headcparters in St. Louis that General Lyon had only 
7,000 men and the enemy 80,000, and he used this language : 

"All idea of any further advance movement, or of even main- 
taining our present position, must soon be abandoned unless the 
Government furnishes us promptly with large reinforcements 
and supplies. Our troops are badly clothed, poorly fed, and im- 



252 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

porfectly supplied with tents. None of them have as yet been 
[)ai(l, and the three-months vohmteers have become disheart- 
ened to such extent that very few of them are wiUing to renew 
their enhstment." 

This letter, the battle of Bull Run, the facts before us, and the 
enemy around us, made us feel melancholy, and we did not sing 
"The Happy Land of Canaan" for perhaps a whole day; but we 
did do something which deserves more than a passing notice. 
Old Mace with his African dialect seemed to be unable to say 
"Corporal"; he called it "Corpular." He addressed me as 
"Corpular Link" although I was no corporal. On account of 
the bravery of Mace in the "Forsyth Campaign" we all voted to 
])r()mote him to "Corpular." He had acquired an old blue army 
blouse somewhere, which he wore without any shirt. The badge 
of a corporal was a "double \\" one inside of the other, worn 
open end up on the sleeve below the shoulder. Frank Johnson, 
an artist of our company, sewed, on Mace's blouse, corporal's 
chevrons upside down. We got Mace down on his knees, and 
Corporal Churubusco took the mess frying-pan and struck Mace 
hard on each shoulder and said, "I dub thee Corpular," in true 
knightly fashion. We all enjoyed it and Mace was nearly 
tickled to death, and from that time went by the name of "Cor- 
pular Mace." Two years or more after that time one of our 
company (Crowder), being in the army down South, ran onto a 
negro artill(>ry regiment near \^icksburg, and there was Mace 
with red corporal's chevrons on. He was delighted to meet 
Crowder, and said, "Fse a real sure-enough Corpular now." 
Since that time none of us have ever heard of Mace. 



CHAPTER 24. 

July 26th. — Butter and Sausage. — Little York. — Lake Spring. — Putrid 
Beef. — The Protest. — The Lieutenant's Address. — Economizing on 
Poker. — Polishing Gun. — Picket-firing. — July 27th. — Cavalry Active. — 
Spies and Artillery. — Commissary Stores Give Out. — Schofield's Letter. 
— Lyon's Letter. — John S. Phelps. — The Hegira. — The Wagon-Train. — 
Letter per Phelps. — Needs of the Occasion. — Wheat and Mills. — Lyon 
Worried. — July 28th. — Mush and Coffee. — Whisky. — Mace's Story About 
Col. Clay. — Mace grows Nervous. — Camp McClellan. — Camp Mush No. 2. 

On Friday, July Twenty-sixth, we awoke to the sound of the 
bugle at 3 : 30 ; we had been sleeping around in groups, among the 
sumac bushes on the edge of town. Corporal Churubusco came 
in along toward morning with two pounds of butter and seven 
pounds of link sausage dried and smoked. As he never would 
explain where or how he got them, or if there were any more 
there where he got them, we came to the conclusion that they 
came from the lower regions antl had some conscientious scru- 
ples as to whether we should eat them or not ; but as we had no 
rations issued to us the evening before except turtle loaves of 
bread, we swallowed our scruples and subsequently the sau- 
sage. All at once we started marching, and took a westerly 
course, instead of east as we expected. Our Lieutenant knew 
nothing of where we were going, or why, but one thing was clear : 
we were not being mustered out. We marched about twelve 
miles ; we went near a village called then Little York (I do not 
find it now on the map), and from there a mile northwest to a 
place called Lake Spring, and camped out on the prairie. Our 

(253) 



254 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

march was a silent one; the boys were disconsolate and the 
weather red-hot. \A\' camped on the prairie, out in the hot sun 
without any shade except a fringe of sumac along a swale where 
there was a large spring. As we had no tents, the heat of the 
sun made the camp almost intolerable. Here our rations broke 
down again, ^^'e had mush and sassafras tea for supper. A 
quarter of beef had been sent to our camp, but it was found to be 
fly-blown and putrid, and to have been issued to the regulars and 
by them rejected and then sent to us. This irritated us very 
greatly, and we went to our officers and wanted our Lieutenant 
to head an armed delegation of us, to go to headquarters and 
present our grievances, and, in the language of Corjjoral Chiu'u- 
busco, "raise hell." Our Lieutenant smoothed us down the 
back, told us that we would soon be out, that we must not do any- 
thing to blur the good name of the regiment, that we were as 
well treated, if not better, than any other company in the reg- 
iment, that we must not lose our grip, that the country needed 
saving and needed it bad, that we were doing bully by holding 
the enemy back until our i)eople in the North got ready, that a 
soldier who could not stand privations was not worth a " tink- 
er's dam," that the Government was just now hard pressed 
and that just now was the time for us to show that the Govern- 
ment could depend on us; that now was the time to show 
that there was not a "galoot" in the company. He ■\vound 
up by saying lie would see what he could do for us. 

The word "galoot" had just been invented and nobody knew 
its exact meaning, but the pati'iotic speech of our First Lieu- 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 255 

tenant got us back onto our pins and we stayed there, with a 
Httle wabbhng, through the trying days to come. We took that 
([uartcr of beef out and buried it with full nhlitary honors. As 
it was consigned to the tomb we all took off our hats and Cor- 
poral Churubusco read something from the ''Revised Army 
Regulations." Then Bill Huestis with profundity of tone and 
the air of an archbishop closed the ceremony by slowly saying : 
"My dominicca rooster can whip your dominicca rooster — you 
bet, you bet." 

I had long noticed that the new Springfield rifled musket of 
the regulars was a bright and polished weapon; it looked and 
gleamed radiantly, and as I had made up my mind to take 
my old musket "Silver Sue" out of the army with me and hang 
her up, as I had seen my grandfather hang his, I determined, 
as I had plenty of time, that I would economize on poker, and 
use my odds and ends of time in fixing up and polishing the gun. 
So on this 26th of July I took my gun, which had a rusty brown 
enamel on, and getting some sandstone and using it with the 
emery-paper which I had bought in Springfield, I scoured up 
the old gun in good style. Then Corporal Bill got a steel tube- 
wrench and showed me how to burnish the barrel and fixtures. 
It took me several days to get the gun into a state of perfection, 
but the steel was polished like a mirror and the black-walnut 
stock was as smooth as a piano-top ; how it turned out I will here- 
after relate. 

Several times during the day we were called together by the 
long roll, which meant that the enemy was making a demonstra- 



256 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

tion on the pickets. We were told to stay in camp and to be 
ready on a moment's notice. The long roll means business; 
we fell in three times during the night of the 26th, and on one 
of the occasions a troop of our cavalry dashed past us going 
to the front on a run in a southwest direction, where had been 
heard firing on the pickets. 

On July Twenty-seventh we were called up at about 3 a. m. 
by the long roll antl did not go to sleep again. All day we laid 
around and I worked on my gun, except such times as I dozed 
off or fell into line. Our cavalry were dashing around unceas- 
ingly. Our picket-posts were formed of whole companies in- 
stead of squads. The artillery changed position every night 
so that the spies of the daytime could not tell where the ar- 
tillery might be in case of a night attack. In my memorandum 
I find this entry : 

*'Our commissary stores have given out; we have had nothing 
to-day but coffee and corn-meal, without sugar, or anything 
else. Wc do not know how long we are to remain here." 

A letter to headcj[uarters in St. Louis, which Schofield wrote 
on July 26th, contains this statement : 

''We have heard of the defeat of our troops in Virginia, though 
hardly enough to judge of its extent. I fear this will prevent us 
from getting reenforcements. If so the next news will be of 
our defeat also. Reenforcements should be sent on at once. 
Our men are very much in need of clothing, particularly shoes. 
Many of the men are entirely barefooted, and hence unable to 
march. I hope that something can be done for us soon." 

General Lyon on July 27th wrote to Adjutant-General Hard- 
ing at headquarters in St. I^ouis as follows: 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 257 

"Now that matters North seem more quiet, cannot you man- 
age to get a few regiments this way? I am in the deepest con- 
cern on this subject, antl you must urge this matter upon Fre- 
mont as of vital importance. These three-months vokmteers 
would reenlist if they could be paid, but they are now dissatis- 
fied, and if troops do not replace them all that is gained may be 
lost. I have not been able to move for want of supplies, and 
this delay will exhaust the term of the three-months men. 
Cannot something be done to have our men and officers paid, 
as well as our purchases paid for? If the Government cannot 
give due attention to the West her interests must have a corre- 
sponding disparagement. N. Lyon, 

Brig. Genl. Comdg." 

At Springfield was a celebrated Union man, who was a Con- 
gressman from that district, John S. Phelps, afterwards Colonel 
and General, and afterwards Governor Phelps. The United 
States will always be under a debt of gratitude to him and his 
heirs forever. His wife was a most superior woman, and as 
staunch and as influential as he. Phelps visited our First Iowa 
camp and talked with us boys and gave us chewing-tobacco. 
Twenty per cent, of our men were sick; they couldn't stand 
corn-meal; they were not used to it; our company from 99 
men had got down below SO. A large number of the local in- 
habitants of Springfield wanted to get out with their wives and 
children and go North, for they feared a rebel victory. There 
was a regular hegira, and it took the form of a great train of 
wagons and people on foot and horseback under escort of the 
home-guards. Lyon with them sent off all of his sick soldiers 
that could be hauled ofl'. He could not feed them, and they 
could not be cared for, and it was humane to send them to Rolla, 



258 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

130 miles distant, where they could get something to eat. Phelps 
went through with this great caravan, bearing a letter in the 
shape of memorandum for verbal presentation to Fremont. 
The memorandum was drafted by Lyon, and was in these words : 

'^See General Fremont about troops and stores for the place. 
Our men have not been paid, and are rather dispirited; they 
are badly off for clothing, and the want of shoes unfits them for 
marching. Some staff officers are badly needed and the in- 
terests of the Government suffer for want of them. The time 
of the three-months volunteers is nearly out, and on returning 
home, as most of them are disposed to do, my command will 
be reduced too low for effective operations. Troops must at 
once be forwarded to supply their place. The safety of the 
State is hazarded; orders from General Scott strip the entire 
West of regular forces and increase the chances of sacrificing 
it. The public press is full of reports that troops from other 
States are moving towards the northern border of Arkansas for 
the purpose of invading Missouri." 

Such was the condition of things on July 27th while we were 
encamped on the sunl^urned prairie about fifteen miles west of 
Springfield, Missouri. Northwest of us for a short distance, 
where the people were protected, there was a preponderance 
of Union sentiment. The wheat was in the shock; there were 
a few thrashing-machines scattered through the country, and 
they were being worked to the utmost. Some were "Union" 
and some were "Secesh." Off at a distance in different direc- 
tions were water-mills for grinding flour. Some of the mills 
were ''Union" and some were "Secesh"; each side, and the 
adherents of each side, were trying to get all the supplies 
they could. Our cavalry was constantly engaged in escorting 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 259 

wagon-loads of flour and meal in from these distant mills. Of 
beef cattle the comitiy seemed stripped. Lyon always looked 
worried and mad. He was sleepless and constantly on the go. 
We never saw him except when he was dashing around with 
some cavalry following him on the run. Huestis said: "'Old 
Lyon is busier than a snake-doctor." The dragon-fly was some- 
times called the "snake-doctor." 

July Twenty-eighth, up as usual, before dawn. Long roll 
sounded about 4 a. m. We fell into line before breakfast. 
Corpular Mace was so scared he could not cook; he had a 
brain-storm. Couriers were dashing around, and we were told 
that an army was moving around us to the north. We stood 
in line of battle for an hour, and then the word came to stack 
arms for one hour and get breakfast. For breakfast, indeed 
for the whole day, we had only meal and coffee. I find this in 
my diary: "Nothing all day but mush and coffee. We hear 
more of the battles at Manassas Gap and Bull Run. Here we 
are, camped on a flat prairie, and the miserable rations have 
given everyone the diarrhea." 

Late in the afternoon there was issued to us some whisky; a 
barrel of it had been sent out from Springfield, but whether as a 
gift or as rations we did not know. Each got a quarter of a 
pint. It was good old whisky, and the effect was instantaneous. 
In thirty minutes we were all singing the "Happy Land of 
Canaan"; we wanted "A fight or a discharge," luith a prefer- 
ence for a fight. 

What a blessing whisky is and how grossly it has been slan- 



260 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

dered! When the griefs and burdens and miseries and cares 
which we are bearing cut down and into us, and chafe arid gall 
us, how grateful it seems to shift the load a little and let the 
raw spot heal. Wretchedness that bears down with an un- 
endurable weight becomes lighter. Whisky is a great curse, but 
it is a greater blessing. It docs much harm but it does more 
good. Those who are on ''soft duty" in life's great detail can- 
not understand it; but those who do the world's work and 
carry its burdens do. Let them alone; they know what makes 
life endurable. 

Old Mace told a whisky story this evening about the Mexi- 
can War, that I preserved. I cannot give the Corpular's dialect 
manner, and will only try to tell it in substance : 

"You see I was owned then by the Clay family ob Kentucky 
and mj^ massa was young Harry Clay, who was Kunnel ob a 
regiment. When he was killed in Mexico they took him down 
to the coast and put him in one of them long wine-casks. They 
had bolted down on the bottom of the cask on the inside a great 
big block of laid [lead], and then headed it up and filled it with 
whisky wuth him in. And they put it on a ship with the laid 
end down and sent me along to take keer of it. I slept along- 
side of it, and them sailors said they done seen massa Clay 
every night come outen that barl. And they done drunk the 
whisky offn Massa Henry Clay three times before we got to New 
Yorlins, and the captain had to fill it up three times. And he 
sword offul. Sailors tried to make me think that Massa Clay 
done drink it up his own self and come out for mo." 

Mace has got so nervous that he can hardly cook. The 
negroes seem to have a sort of grapevine intelligence line ; Old 
Mace seems to know where all the rebel regiments are lo- 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 261 

cated; he says we are going to have trouble and that the man 
that gets him is two thousand dollars ahead. When asked who 
his last master was and where from, he refuses to tell. He 
would only say, "Vze a free niggah now and I'ze dun gwine to 
stay free, hear me." 

It seems that all General Lyon's army is now encamped in 
and around this place; not all together, but so near that they 
can all get together in an hour. Our place is called "Camp 
McClellan," but the boys call it ''Camp Mush, No. 2." Twice 
during the afternoon the long roll was sounded and we formed 
in line of battle facing west. And while in line a company of 
our cavalry went past us to the west on the dead run. 



CHAPTER 25. 

July 29th.— Dade County Demonstration.— Picket Duty.— The Huddle- 
ston Girls. — July 30th. — A Sorry Breakfast. — Company Quarrels. — 
Fresh Beef. — Corporal Churubusco Tells Story. — The Mexican War. — 
Champagne. — Brevets. — July 31st. — Blackberry Root. — Our Lieuten- 
ant. — Beef and Wheat. — Assembly at 1 a. m. — Night Inspection. — Au- 
gust 1st. — Coflfee, Beef, and Bread. — Guthrie and the Mule. — Lize. — 
Ordered to March. — Going South. — No Orders to Halt. — Sleeping among 
the Flints.— The "Wire Road." 

July Twenty-ninth brought welcome daylight. Ever and 
anon last night we heard a shot fired or a bugle-blast. Seems 
that the enemy was trying to keep us from going to sleep. We 
had to stay in camp closely all day. If they would allow us 
to go out and forage we might get something, but we are told 
to stay in camp waiting for the call. We are told that we may 
have to march out and have a fight any minute; so we stay 
in camp and blaspheme the rations and the officers. We did 
not have any coffee to-day but did get a 50-lb. sack of wheat 
flour. The enemy is making cavalry demonstrations north- 
west of us in Dade county, Missouri. This forenoon 200 regu- 
lar cavalry, two pieces of artillery and a thousand infantry, 
part First Missouri and part Second Kansas, were sent north- 
west to head off any demonstration in that direction. They 
struck over into Dade county and headed off the rebel detach- 
ment that was going after the ''Union mills." The rebels fled 
and our boys captured and brought in several wagon-loads of 
secesh wheat. We were on mush, and this wheat was very 

(262) 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 263 

welcome. We boiled the wheat whole and ate a lot of it; it 
was very good food. Why don't people eat boiled wheat? 
It is good stuff ; the same as boiled rice. The only fault we had 
to find was that it was not issued to us more; we only got it 
then for that one day. During the day I was put out on picket 
about a half-mile from camp, on a little knoll where there 
was an apple orchard and prairie. At the house was a very 
old man who said that we would get licked out of our boots 
inside of two weeks, and that the United States could not bor- 
row any more money to carry on the war with. I saw horse- 
men riding around about half a mile south, near the timber; 
I was posted south of camp; there were seven big solid, corn- 
fed girls at the house. They said their names were Huddleston. 
They laughed at me and joked me for being a "Yank''; they 
said they had tied up the cow for fear she would eat me up, I 
was so green ; they asked me where I got my clothes ; they said 
the Confederate officers were well dressed and very handsome 
gentlemen, and that some of them had been in to visit our camp 
and had just left their house. They offered me a plate of stuff 
to cat, but I did not dare take it, — -I was afraid it was ''doped"; 
and I was awfully hungry for something good to eat. They 
laughed, and said I was afraid. I stayed away from them— 
had to do it — they evidently had some plot. I stayed away 
and kept up my watch from the orchard out of sight. I was to 
be relieved at eight o'clock p. m. About seven o'clock I was 
out on the edge of the orchard when all of the girls came out 
laughing ; they wanted to talk, but I knew they wanted to 



264 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

take me in and do mc up. They could have taken me in, in a 
moment, if I permitted them to close in on me. I told them to 
stay away; I mounted the bayonet on my gun and went out 
into the prairie and told them to keep off. They pranced around 
at a distance and laughed and whooped, and yelled "Cowardy, 
cowardy calf!'' It was pretty tough, but I had to stand it. 
It was a scene that a young man in my situation could scarcely 
forget. I am satisfied that my action saved my life at this 
time. When I was relieved I told the corporal of the guard 
all about it, and put my successor onto the situation. I was 
afterwards told that two Missouri soldiers were never heard 
of afterwards who were put on duty at this place, and that the 
girls disappeared. I had a tough night of it owing to my chew- 
ing so many sour green apples in the orchard while on guard. 
On July Thirtieth we were up at 3:30. We had a sorry 
breakfast, a sorry dinner, and a sorry supper. We just ate our 
mush and laid around. We could not even go out and hunt 
for a sassafras tree; we just simply laid around in the hot sun. 
Mush all day and notliing else. Our time had expired ten days. 
Some of the boys got off their balance and wanted to stack 
arms and march back to Rolla. Everybody got quarrelsome; 
there must have been twenty fights that day; the company 
seemed to be going to pieces. Our lieutenant -commanding 
must have been alarmed, and j^robably re})orted it. In the 
evening after supper in came a big hind-quarter of beef, weigh- 
ing, I should say, over 200 pounds ; it was quite tough, but we 
immediately went to work on it; there were about 2| lbs. 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 265 

to the man, and bv breakfast-time it was 2;one. That niglit 
Corporal Churubusco got to telling us about the Mexican War, 
and how much better the Government then took care of its 
soldiers than now. These were the outlines of his story : 

"I was only a private in the rear rank; I wasn't even acting 
assistant flunky to a lance corporal's bunky — I was just a com- 
mon freckled-faced 'Dough-Boy' in Co. 'G.' Well, at Vera 
Cruz before we started up the hill for Mexico the officers had the 
wide-openest blow-out I ever see. They had up a big long 
tent, right out there on the sand — sand two feet deep — they 
must have put several tents together. All the officers were 
there; not much to eat, but just dead-oodles of champagne, 
and speech-making until you couldn't rest. They hollered 
and yelled and shouted; said what they was a-going to do to 
the greasers when they got up there. I was put on guard out 
twenty feet in front of the tent, so that nobody could break in 
on them from that direction. My Lieutenant stuck his head 
out of the tent to get a fresh breath of air and saw me. Says 
he, 'Shannon, is that you?' and I said 'Yes,' and saluted him. 
He went back and got a quart bottle of champagne and came 
out with it, and with a niggah to open it. I thanked him and 
he went back, and I drank lialf of it and stuck the bottle down 
in the sand and then in a little while drank the other half. 
Well, the big hoodoo went on in the tent and I got tired of stand- 
ing guard and went off to my tent or somewhere, and next day 
I was told that I had been reported and was a-going to be 
court-martialed and shot for deserting my post, but nothing 
came of it, for it was fixed up somehow. Well, we walked up 
to the City of Mexico and marched around and had dress-parade 
in the cathedral square and then out onto the campus. Old 
Fuss and Feathers marched in at the Belen gate because that's 
where Cortez marched in ; he was playing the Cortez act all the 
time. There was a big Mexican building out near the camp, 
and the officers had to have another banquet. And they did. 
They had a Jo Bowers of a time. Wagon-loads of champagne. 



266 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

Bright beautiful moonlight. Gee-whiz, what a time they had! 
Speeches galore, stars and stripes, halls of the Montczumas, 
bald eagle of victory, whiz, bang, — every time they cheered a 
barrel of champagne disappeared. It just happened to be my 
luck to be drawn for guard duty again that night, and there I 
was about 1 o'clock in the morning a-walking up and down in 
front of the big picket-gate where all of this was a-going on. 
An officer came out to get a breath of air; I wasn't over a 
hundred feet from him, and he says, 'Jo, is that you?' Sa3^s I, 
'Betcherlife. Can't you send out a little something?' and he 
disappeared and out came a cold quart and a niggah with a 
corkscrew, and that fluid saturated into me in about four min- 
utes. I shouldered my gun and went to my tent or somewhere. 
We had 'em licked anyway. The next day I was put in the 
guard-house and told that I would be court-martialed and 
shot the next morning. My Lieutenant came to see me, and 
he told me to keep still and not give him away; that it would 
ruin him if I told about it. Told me to just stand trial and say 
nothing, and that he'd see General Scott and have it all fixed 
up. I promised him. The next day I was court-martialed, 
and they sentenced me to five lashes well laid on, a ten-pound 
ball on my left leg, confinement in the castle of San Juan D'Ulloa 
until the war ended, and then my head was to be shaved and I 
was to be dishonorably discharged. Wasn't that a dandy 
sentence? It was 'Dandy Jim from Caroline.' And my 
Lieutenant came in the next day and said : ' Keep a stiff upper 
lip; you toted fair with me and I will tote fair with you.' So 
he went off and saw Old Fuss and Feathers, and he made an 
order expunging the sentence and restoring me to duty on ac- 
count of my gallantry in action, and my soldierly qualities. 
Now the funny part of it is that my Lieutenant did not give 
me the quart of champagne. He evidently had given some 
guard a bottle or thought he had, and supposed it was me. 

"That Mexican War was a champagne war. It was just like 
chasing rabbits. All them officers got two or three brevets; 
those what had seen a Mexican anywhere got it for 'gallantry 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 267 

in action/ them that hadn't seen any got it for 'meritorious 
services.' There's Price and McCullough and others in front 
us — they've all got those brevets. Price never saw a Mexi- 
can soldier, but got to be a general. But this war ain't that 
kind of a war, you'll see; this ain't no champagne war." 

We then called on Fletch Branderbmy to sing us something, 
and he sang, ''Did you ever go into an Irishman's shanty, where 
the boys and the girls and the whisky was plenty?" Then 
we rolled over on the ground and looked up between the stars 
and tried to look beyond them and see what kind of a roof there 
was over it all. 

Then we wished the war was over, and then we went to sleep 
with "Lize" barking at something. 

July Thirty-first. It has stopped raining, and has been dry 
for several days. Things are beginning to show the effects of 
heat. The boys are all tanned to a hazelnut brown. Our com- 
pany has got dowai to about seventy -five men. One-fourth of 
the boys are knocked out. I don't know what becomes of the 
sick boys; they are hauled off somewhere and we don't hear 
of them again. We drew corn-meal only and about a full ration 
of sugar. We used a little, very little of the sugar to flavor 
the mush, and used the balance to sweeten the blackberry- 
root decoction that all were drinking. There were lots of 
blackberries growing near us, and we cut the roots up and boiled 
camp-kettles full of them. It was all that kept us from going 
to pieces. This was the worst day we ever experienced in 
camp. It was the most melancholy. ' We had quit playing 
cards. The boys were getting morose. Nobody had any friends. 



268 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

Our Lieutenant-commanding lost his placid look and found 
fault with his superiors. Rumor said that he had a cussing- 
niatch with some one at headquarters every day, but he never 
talked harshly to any of his men. He is reported to have told 
those at Lyon's headquarters that if they did not feed his men 
he woukl march them off to where they would be fed, and that 
he would not wait any longer. Every once in a while at com- 
pany headquarters he would jump up and begin to talk to him- 
self and swear like a pirate, and then pike off to brigade head- 
quarters with something on his mind. It was said that his 
ebullitions were artistic and were listened to there with atten- 
tion. Then he would come back and say nothing for an hour 
or so, and then he would rise and begin talking to himself, and 
then begin to swear, and then he would rush off again to head- 
quarters. We never did know exactly what was done by him 
at headquarters, but the result was that on that evening we got 
a big quarter of beef and sat up until a late hour cooking and 
eating it. With it we got several bushels of wheat. We parched 
this wheat in mess-pans and we pounded up the wdieat with the 
butts of our guns in mess-pans, and to make a long story short 
we went to bed about 12 p. m., full of beef and wheat and feeling 
happier than dukes. We had been asleep about two hours 
when through our camp ran some cavahy blowing a bugle at a 
furious rate, sounding '^ Assembly." We got into line, and in- 
spection of arms was ordered. Some officer whom we did 
not know w^ent down our line inspecting the guns, then be- 
ginning again at the head he inspected our cartridges. To 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 269 

some of the boys he issued new cartridges in place of those 
that had been ''caked" by moisture. In front of our company 
a box of ball-cartridges had been unscrewed so that the com- 
I)any could be supplied. There was no light but starlight, and 
not a word was said. . As soon as the inspection was over, no 
order being given, we lay right down on the ground and went 
to sleep in ranks. We had got into the habit of it. We could 
go to sleep whenever we wanted to, and we took a sleep when- 
ever we could or deemed it best. W^e could sleep at any time or 
place. There was some firing on the pickets west of us, but it 
was scattering and desultory ; it was not strong enough to show 
a night attack. 

On August First we rose in ranks at call of bugle. We had 
coffee, beef, and a wagon-load of bread, — big turtle loaves of 
broad. It had been baked in Springfield and hauled out to us. 
We ate a large strong breakfast. We were told to keep to- 
gether and not get away from the bugle. We laid around and 
put in our whole forenoon eating and sleeping. We would eat 
an hour and sleep an hour. I here wish to state a circumstance 
that I had overlooked, and that is about Guthrie and the mule. 
On our trip to Forsyth, Guthrie had acquired a mule. He did 
not impress or levy on it — ^it just came poking its head out of 
the brush where Guthrie happened to be, and walked up to 
Guthrie and offered its services. Guthrie put his gun-sling 
around the mule's neck and rode on in the column. Then 
he let one of the tired boys ride, and in a little while Guthrie 
had established a hospital with an ambulance attachment. 



270 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

Everywhere that Guthrie went that mule was sure to go. The 
mule seemed to place the utmost confidence in Guthrie, and 
Guthrie hung on to the mule. Guthrie had lived on a farm 
once and fully understood mule language and mule diplomacy, 
and getting some rope he made a lariat and kept the mule 
picketed out and fed and watered. Although we as soldiers 
might have little or no food, there were oceans of grass for the 
mule, and Guthrie, who was one of our brightest boys, had 
sense enough to take good care of the mule and claim owner- 
ship and refuse to turn him over to the quartermaster. Guthrie 
and the mule became inseparable. So, when the orderly ser- 
geant called the roll and got to the ''G's" he would call "Greg- 
ory," ''Grimes," ''Guthrie and the mule." So the mule got 
into the roll-call and Guthrie would answer "Both here." Our 
company dog "Lize" had grown fat and became of no practical 
use except to keep us supplied with fleas. Shortly after noon 
our company wagon drove up ; it was filled with barrels of hard- 
tack, a sack of coffee, and some boxes of bacon ; we were ordered 
to break camp and put our stuff into the wagon, and be ready 
to start at two o'clock p. m. None of the captains or officers 
knew where we were going, but we all felt that we were now 
going to go back to Rolla and be mustered out. We felt that 
the time had come to get out of the miserable starved country. 
^^'e did not start at two o'clock, and we went into the wagons 
and began eating again. Then the order was given for four 
o'clock, but no start. At six o'clock p. m. the order was to go, 
and off we went in the direction of Springfiekl, but after a while 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 271 

we turned south. We all thought we were going home, until 
the turn was made. We marched south down a rough and 
rocky road until we got into a better one that seemed to be 
turning southwest. It was the old "wire road." At three 
o'clock that night we halted on the side of a mountain. The 
clay of the road was red and washed, and the trees extended 
into the blackness on both sides. The road was rocky and full 
of flints. We had been going for nine hours in the direction 
of the enemy, at a slow rate; I guessed it at eighteen miles. 
No orders were given to halt ; those in front of us stopped and 
then we stopped, and in five minutes we had curled up among 
the gravel and flints and were all sound asleep in the middle 
of the road, each man holding on to his gun. There is a lot of 
art in sleeping among the rocks and gravel. You have to spread 
your blanket and then get your hands under you and pull out 
the rocks and gravel at places where they stick up too far; 
at last you get the ground so that it just fits you. Then you 
can sleep splendidly if you don't move. If you want to move 
you must get the gravel and flints moved again so that they 
will fit again. It is no trick sleeping among the rocks — ^it's easy 
when you know how. 

The "wire road" was the main thoroughfare southwest from 
Springfield, through Cassville, Keitsville, and down to Fayette- 
ville, Ark. It was an ancient road, following probably an old 
l)rehistoric Indian trail. A telegraph wire had been strung 
along it among the trees on the roadside, for it went through 
forest most of the way. This telegraph line gave it the name 
of the "Wire Road." 



CHAPTER 26. 

August 2d. — -Up Early.— Line of Battle Formed. — The Rebel Divisions. — 
McCuUough . — Rains. — Pearce. — Steele. — Hunting McCullough. — De- 
ploying as Skirmishers. — The RallJ^ — The Cavalry Charge. — The Sabre 
Drip.— Changing Positions. — Trying to Find the Enemy. — Totten. — 
Went into Camp. — A Picket-post. — August 3d. — Line of Battle. — Reach- 
ing for Land Warrant. — Woman and her Children. — Forward Movement. 
— The Store and Camp. — The Supplies. — The Buttermilk. — The Charge. 
— Jarvis Barker's Company. — Paddy Miles. — Boot-heel. — The Well. — 
B ak e- o vcn . — B ogus Camp-fires . 

On August Second there was no bugle-call; some one came 
around and waked us up quietly about six o'clock, and we were 
told to go to our company wagons and get a cold lunch, and to 
make no fires and no noise. We were told that we were in the 
presence of the enemy and that we had better put a day's lunch 
in our haversacks, for we did not know when we would see our 
company wagon again. We were also told to fill our canteens 
the first chance we got, no matter what kind of water it was. 
We then got lunch and marched into the woods, and formed 
a line of battle. Then we waited a little and marched forward 
in line of battle. Then we heard a gun or two go off in our front. 
Then we marched forward*; we were on the right side of a road 
that seemed to go southerly and we were stretched out at right 
angles to it. On the left of the road were some regular infantry ; 
I also noticed a piece of six-pound artillery; the road was kept 
clear and cavalrymen were dashing up and down, apparently 
cai-rying dispatches. About 9 o'clock the enemy's calvary be- 
gan feeling of us. 

(272) 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST lO'^A INFANTRY. 273 

The way of it was this : Three Rebel armies were approach- 
ing Springfield. (We called them armies then; afterwards we 
called them ''detachments.") These armies were under difTer- 
ent generals, all old Mexican War officers; they were called 
"Mexican War veterans"; everyone who was in the Mexican 
AVar was a "veteran" whether he had ever seen a Mexican or 
not. Of the armies advancing from the south on Springfield 
it seems that the Confederate General McCullough was the 
senior in Confederate rank, and commanded the first division 
of the Confederate corps. His advance guard was commanded 
by General Rains ; and, as McCullough's forces had been pushed 
the farthest forward. General Lyon had made up his mind to 
hit McCullough before he united with the others. After he 
had got through with McCullough, Lyon was then to try Pearce 
and Steele, who commanded the other two divisions. Mc- 
Cullough was from Texas, Pearce was from Arkansas, and Steele 
was from Missouri. They were all separated from one another. 
Sterling Price was then Major-General of Missouri, commanding 
only the Missouri State Guard, which guard was lying around 
loose in the country and engaged in giving us trouble generally 
and veiling the movements of the other troops. McCullough 
was the best general of them all in many respects ; he was killed 
within six months thereafter, at the battle of Pea Ridge. 

At nine o'clock on the morning of August 2d we were hunting 
for McCullough, and did not exactly know where he was. They 
were feeling of us to see who we were and how many of us there 
were. Two companies of oiu' regiment were deployed as skir- 



274 THE tYON CAMPAIGN. 

mishers to see what there was ahead of us. On the other side of 
the road the regulars moved forward with four companies. Two 
companies were of Second U. S. Infantry, "B" and "E." They 
were deployed as skirmishers, Captain Steele commanding. 
(Steele was afterwards Major-Gcneral and commander of the 
Seventh Army Corps, that had for its badge the "crescent and 
star.") A great cloud of dust was in our front. It had not 
rained since July 23d ; the sky had been parching and the travel 
of the troops and the wind that blew strongly that morning 
made it difficult to see very much on account of the dust. All 
at once the rebel cavalry appeared scattered along our front, but 
at a considerable distance, and we could not tell whether they 
were few or many. I happened to be out on the skirmish-line. 
A sort of desultory firing had begun in the brush all along the 
line, but it was wild and did not amount to anything. As a 
matter of fact, I never shot my gun, nor did my comrades near 
me ; there was no good chance. We kept going slowly forward, 
until all at once we heard a rush and racket in our rear, and 
to the left. It was some of our cavalry who had come up and 
were forming in line for a charge. We were ordered by bugle 
to ''rally by company," which was the order to be given to a 
])0tly of skirmishers to get together to resist a cavalry charge. 
We were probably 150 yards in front of our regiment, and we 
rallied in good shape with fixed bayonets, when bang! went 
the piece of our artillery on our left, and the cavahy made a 
charge which but few saw, but I was one who did. The charge 
was by our friend Captain Stanley of the First U. S. Cavalry, 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 275 

who had been with us clown to Forsyth. This charge was one 
of the prettiest things I ever saw. It was made by "B," "C," 
"D," and "I" of the First U. S. Cavalry. I was then told that 
there were about 200 men, which probably was all there were 
in the four companies, as I suppose they were down to about 50 
men to a company. Old Captain Totten was swearing around 
and keeping his eye on the fight as well as he could; our cav- 
alrymen in charging stayed together and did not cover the entire 
front of the enemy, and Totten got a chance to drop another 
shell into the enemy's left, our right; and away the secesh all 
went in a whoop and hurrah. The bugle called our men back 
and the cavalry returned. They had several of their number 
killed and wounded, but brought them back and led the horses 
with empty saddles, — ten, it was reported. I remember one 
of the cavalrymen having his sword out and shaking the blood 
from the tip of it. He said he was going to dry it on. Some 
of his comrades told him to wipe it off, but he said, ''no." They 
halted near us for a few minutes ; this man said he had run the 
saber through a man and pulled him off his horse with it. All 
this made an impression on my imagination : this, I said, is war, 
this is the way it looks in the books ; this is the real thing, the 
real, sure-enough war. We then started to maneuvering around 
in the woods. Fii'st we would march in one direction and then 
we were marched in another; we went a little forward and 
fronted in one direction at one angle, then changed position 
and fronted in another. Hour after hour was consumed in this ; 
sometimes we would see a few enemy in the far distance, and 



276 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

then they would disappear. We would from time to time see 
a great deal of dust far off to the right or left, and then it would 
subside. We waited and then changed our line and waited 
again ; we sent men with the canteens down into the ravines to 
fill them, and they brought back hot, scummy water. We 
chewed tobacco in great quantities and were not frisky. The 
picture of the cavalryman with the bloody saber retained its 
vigor, and I made up my mind not to let a secesh cavalryman 
treat me that way, and I did not believe he could if I had my 
bayonet. 

Lyon was evidently trying to find the enemy, and did not 
know quite where they were nor how they were fixed. Our 
cavalry had gone off to the extreme right and extreme left. 
Totten had fired but two shots. The number of the enemy who 
had run up against us was about 800, and finding a greater num- 
ber than that of us had wisely retired. But they had not gone 
out of business. They were smart enough not to pitch onto us 
until they found out how many there were of us and how we 
were fixed. Bill Huestis said, "They're afraid and we dasn't." 
About sundown, to our great surprise we were ordered back. 
We went back about a mile and a half to a running stream and 
went into camp, built fires, cooked bacon and coffee, filled up on 
hard-tack, and, loading our pipes with "boot-heel," we talked 
it all ovei'. It was always my bad luck to lie drawn for guard 
duty when times were serious. There was an expression, "Put 
none but Americans on guard to-night." This idea was prob- 
ably not warranted, but was often acted on. This night our 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 277 

picket-post was put out on a side-hill commanding a deep and 
dismal ravine. A house back a little distance had been aban- 
doned. There was there a miner's pick and a long-handled 
shovel ; we got a place between two oak trees ; we were six in 
number; we brought rails, dug a rifle-pit that would hold us all, 
and made a pen aroimd ourselves. The officer of the guard 
was to visit us every hour with a sergeant, both on foot. We 
were right up against the enemy. No talk or hailing was to be 
made, no picket or sentry challenges ; the officer was to come to 
a certain place, then he was to rap on his saber with a stone 
three times, we in response once; then he again three times, 
then we in response once, and he was to go back, knowing we 
were all right. Several persons were prowling around in the 
night, but no armed body. We crept out and prowled around 
a little ourselves. There w^as motion and spying on the part 
of the enemy, but no armed force. We were not looking for 
individuals, but to prevent a surprise of our camp, which was 
very seriously apprehended. Three of us napped while three 
stayed awake. We could see a flush in the southern sky as if a 
thousand camp-fires were burning. Our sense of hearing was 
keyed up by our situation so that we heard everything; the 
woods seemed alive with game. We went back into camp at 
dawn, being relieved by some Kansas boys. 

I never knew where any of the Missouri or Kansas soldiers 
were during the day of August 2tl. I was so busy attending to 
my own business that I only saw what was in the front, or near 
me on the side. We were nominally brigaded with the First and 



278 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

Second Kansas Infantry, but I did not sec them that day. We 
were handled separately; I suspect they were off to our right, 
and perhaps protecting us from a flank attack from the west, 
which was the direction from which an attack would come if 
the enemy in front of us were reinforced. 

On August Third we were under arms at dawn. We had a 
coarse solid breakfast. Corpular Mace had been boiling beef 
all night.- We had taken some cattle, and were feeding heavily 
to make up past deficiencies. We started to march about 8 
A. M. straight for the enemy's position, but we went slowly in 
order of battle, and when part of the line had a defile to pass 
we waited until it was passed. We went very slowly until wc; 
passed om' former position. The enemy were in great numbers 
in front of us, JDut retired slowly. They did not seem to either 
want to fight or to run. Finally we passed the place where 
the enemy were the day before. During the night the dead had 
been buried by the enemy in trenches beside the road. They 
had been lightly covered; there were perhaps 25 Confederates 
buried there. Our company went close to the trenches in pass- 
ing. One of the men that was buried had had his arm extended 
in the rigor of death with his hand spread out like a chicken's 
claws; his arm now stuck through the dirt covering, that was 
thrown over him, and reached up at least a foot. The position 
might have been caused by the grim humor of the army sexton. 
The sight was ghastly and the trenches already emitted an odor. 
We would have passed in silence, but Bill Huestis spoke up and 
said, ''That soldier is reaching fox^ his land warrant." We 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 279 

passed a two-story log cabin with a porch on the south and west ; 
it had no fence. On the porch was a woman in a pink cahco 
dress walking up and down the porch in a frantic manner, 
wringing her hands and screaming loudly. Three little girls 
were hanging on to her dress and bawling in sympathy. I 
never forgot that scene. I never heard the cause. After we 
had marched about three miles we came to where the road 
descended to a deep wide valley in front of us. Our regiment 
was put in position at right angles to the road, and looking 
down into the valley. We stayed in line of battle for about an 
an hour. Other regiments were drawn up behind us. We could 
see across the valley, and saw the woods full of cavalry. Down 
in the valley, which was filled with trees, we saw houses and 
what appeared to be a camp and a lot of loose horses. All at 
once Totten came up behind us with two guns of his battery. 
We could hear Totten giving orders: ''Take that limber to the 
rear, G — d cl — n you, sir." "Wheel that caisson around, G — d 
d— n you, sir." All at once our bugle said, ''Forward," and we 
started over the brow of the hill and down among the rocks 
and brush. We w^ent at a "trail arms" and in quick time, our 
regimental line being parallel with the valley. It would have 
been called a bayonet charge if anybody had waited for us to 
catch up with him. There was a large store in the valley, 
near the road, called McCulla's store. McCuUa had been a 
well-known man in the community for years, and averj^ promi- 
nent and leading citizen, but now was said to be at heart a 
Union man. He was afterwards a Captain in a notable Union 



280 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

regiment, the Eighth Missoui'i Cavahy, The Confederate camp 
was near the store, up the valley a little distance. It happened 
to be in the path of our company and we ran up against it. 
The woods were quite dense, but we could see men in butter- 
nut clothes tearing through the brush in front of us. A halt 
was sounded as our regiment reached the store and camp. 

As we marched across the valley, going as much abreast as 
the conformation of the ground would permit, in our charge 
upon the camp, Totten fired his guns, loaded with shrapnel 
shells, right over our heads. They would burst about 100 feet 
in front of us and about 25 feet above us. We were very liter- 
ally under fire, and we did not like to have it done, because of 
our ignorance of ballistics. We thought we were in great dan- 
ger from the explosion of the shells, but, as it was afterwards 
explained to us, we were not. The forward motion of the shell 
was so great that it was not overcome by the explosive force 
of the bursting charge of the shell. The pieces of the shell 
when it burst went right on. The shell burst and went on in 
the form of a tulip. The way those shells were made was that 
they were about a half-inch thick, with a circular inch hole. 
The shell was filled with lead bullets, and then liquid rosin or 
sulphur was poured in and left to cool. The hole was then 
bored out down in the shell through the bullets, making an inch- 
roimd space across the interior of the shell. This space was 
filled with black gunpowder and a fuse plug screwed in, with 
second-marks on the outside, called a Bohrman fuse. The ex- 
plosion of the shell was loud enough, and, when in the way of it. 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 281 

it was dangerous. After the explosion the smoke from the shell 
held together in a little viscid, compact cloud that might float 
around in the air for half an hour without dissolving. 

The secesh camp was a long shelter made out of rough oak 
boards from a country sawmill. The shelter was somewhat 
open, but able to shed water. We stopped, re-formed our line, 
and dashed into the camp. There were piles of forage, stacks 
of oats and corn and corn-blades. Lots of home-cured pork 
and jerked beef. There was a great pile of hogs' heads, smoked 
and cured; they called them ''jowls." There were a few hats 
and shoes and socks ; I got two of each and a jowl. In prying 
around I removed some sheaf oats from a box, and on turning 
over the lid I found a big stone jar with something like a white 
thick fluid. I thought it was buttermilk, and dipped in my 
tin cup; it was half-melted lard; it came near turning me 
wrong side out, but I called the boys and gave them all a chance 
to get a sip of it. One sample was enough for a boy, but they 
all sampled it and fought for the privilege. No one gave the 
cue and the lard was mostly all sampled. As a novelist would 
say, "It was a scene long to be remembered." All this took 
us about fifteen minutes, during which we filled our canteens. 
Then, on command of bugle, we formed a line and marched up 
toward the brow of the south side of the valley. Secesh who 
were concealed in the brush kept jumping up and running. 
We ran and caught several; Little Baldy got two at once, 
both bigger than he was. He kept them both. We went up 
to the brow of the hill, having crossed the valley, and were 



282 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

halted; then we marched by the left flank and formed across 
the road south of the store as if to repel an attack of the enemy 
coming do^^^l the road from the hill south of us. Our company 
was immediately on the west side of the road, and the farthest 
south. General Lyon came down the road from the north all 
alone on horseback, and went past; we gave him a salute by 
present arms as he went by. He had not gone over fifty yards 
south of us in his reconnoissance when he started back, rather 
fast and looking over his shoulder. We all rose up, and in a 
few minutes the head of a company of about 150 butternut 
cavalry appeared coming down towards us in unconscious dis- 
order, armed with rifles and shotguns, and entirely off their 
guard. Lyon rode up to the end of our line and shouted at 
them. "Who are you?" No answer. " Who are you ?" shouted 
Lyon again. They were within a hundred yards. At the 
second call the leader shouted something, and dropping a 
beautiful double-barreled shotgun darted into the woods as 
he and the balance all turned tail with wonderful rapidity, not 
firing a gun, "Fire!" said Lyon. We got up our guns and 
blazed away into the woods, but not a man did we get. We 
could hear them bobbing through the timber shouting and 
yelling, and getting away from us in good shape. Lyon was 
much disgusted ; he slapped himself on the leg, and then pulled 
his chin- whiskers, as was his wont when he was thinking, and 
said in a sarcastic way, "Well, I could do better than that if 
I was you." His anger was worse than his grammar. Miles 
of our company, whom we called "Paddy Miles's boy," went 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 283 

out and got the fine shotgun that the captain had dropped, 
and we got a lot more of them that were dropped in the flight, 
and we bent them around trees. Miles got the finest gun and 
carried it as a trophy, and I believe back to Iowa with him. I 
afterwards told this story to a person down in that neighbor- 
hood, and he told me that the captain who lost the fine "stub- 
and-twist" shotgun was named Jarvis Barker, and that it was 
always a good joke on him; and further, that Barker was just 
getting in with a reinforcement from the East, and in great 
haste, and knew nothing of the presence of the Federal troops. 
Another regiment came up and relieved us and went up onto 
the hill south of us while we went down to near the store. I got 
permission to go over to the store ; I wanted to see if anything 
was left that nobody wanted. I saw a log that I suspected of 
having some ''boot-heel" in; I got an axe, and found my sus- 
picions confirmed. I was going back with an armful when an 
oflficer stopped me and took it away all but one plug, and ordered 
me to go to drawing water at the well. The way was this: 
In front of the store was a large well with a canopy top ; it was 
only about six feet down to the water; there were two well- 
buckets; the men were c{uarreling for the water and trying to 
fill their canteens. This oflScer made me and another soldier 
get inside the well-curb and go to pulling up water just as fast 
as we could and pouring it into camp-kettles, mess-pans and all 
kinds of receptacles, so that the soldiers could all get some of 
it. I was kept in that well-curb three hours, and was sopping 
wet, and lost my "boot-heel" besides. When I was at last rcr 



284 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

lievecl I found that some one had got off with the jowl that I 
had carried stuck onto my bayonet and confided to my mess. 
I found my shoes all right without socks but too tight with them ; 
so I gave the socks away. There was a round Dutch bake- 
oven that I took a fancy to in the camp, and I went and got it. 
It weighed about twenty pounds, and when in the evening we 
moved up the hill toward the enemy to make our camp in front 
of them I took it along. I will never forget that night. We 
built a large number of bogus camp-fires to fool the enemy 
with; details were out chopping trees and building fires all 
night, while to the south of us and west of us the sky looked as 
if there were twenty miles of camp-fires, — and I guess there 
were. There was firing on the pickets all night; the enemy 
evidently intended that we should not sleep and they did not 
intend either that we should have a fight. They yielded wher- 
ever we pushed them, and they followed back every push with 
a push of their own. That night they rode all around us; we 
were in a semi-fortified position and also in a state of siege. 
We and the Kansas regiments were camped all together in close 
parallel lines. 

My bake-oven was the admiration of the mess and of the 
Kansas men near us. Corpular Mace made "lob-scouse" in it, 
which was a combination of hard-tack, bacon and beef. The 
wind blew strongly through the woods all night, and we slept 
as much as we could and looked up among the stars and leaves 
overhead and wondered if we would get mustered out by a l^ullet 
or by a Government officer. 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 285 

McCulla's store was in the township forming the northwest 
corner of Stone county, Mo., being in Township 26, Range 24. 
I think the stream was a part of Crane creek, and that the pres- 
ent town of Curran may be near the spot. 



CHAPTER 27. 

August 4th. — Loss of the Bake-oven. — The Return. — Intense Heat. — 
Killed and Wounded. — Captured. — Dog Springs. — McCulla's Store. — 
Disappointment. — Lyon's Letter. — Rains's Report. — Mcintosh's Re- 
port. — Price's Report. — The Return to Springfield. — Night-firing. — 
August 5th. — The March. — The Cracker-barrel. — The Dust. — Contro- 
versy with Lyon. — The New Musket. — Watch Trade. — " Orphan." — Au- 
gust 6th. — Camp near Phelps. — New Pants. — Term of Service. — Lyon 
Cross and Petulant. — Refugees. — Caravan to RoUa. 

On August Fourth we were up as soon as it was light enough 
to see. We had a good hearty breakfast and drew up in hne, 
and at six o'clock were ready for the march and were packing 
the company wagon, when a trick that I cannot forget or for- 
give was perpetrated by the Second Kansas on me. Our com- 
pany was camped about 150 feet from the Second Kansas, and, 
on ground at that part of the line, about 25 feet higher. Four 
Kansas boys did this: Two of them at some distance from us 
walked up along our regiment, stopping at each camp-fire; 
another came up to me and told me that General Lyon was 
very angry at the stealing done by the soldiers, and that all 
captured stuff would be turned over to the quartermaster, and 
the person in whose hands any of it was found would be dis- 
honorably discharged with loss of pay. He pointed do\Mi the 
lines and said: ''There are two men coming this way; they 
have been detailed to look for stolen property. Where did 
you get that bake-oven? Better roll it down hill." I pro- 
ceeded to roll it. The two men passed our camp-fire while man 

(286) 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 287 

number four clown the hill caught the rolKng bake-oven and put 
it into his company wagon and I lost it. 

We started back to Springfield; no enemy in sight. We had 
an infantry and cavalry advance guard going back. The wagons 
next, the artillery next, and the heft of the army in the rear 
guard. Our company was put in front. There were no cavalry 
in front of us. We started back feeling that our expedition 
had been a failure, but not knowing why. We marched slowly 
and compactly. The weather was intensely hot, and we suf- 
fered a good deal from heat and want of water. The ther- 
mometer was about 105 in the shade. I will stop here to look 
back at the trip. It was a failure. We lost on the expedition, 
first and last, about 10 men killed, about 25 wounded, and 
about 20 disabled or killed by sunstroke on the road back to 
Springfield. Of the enemy, including spies and pick-ups, there 
were about 125 captured; of our men there were probably 25 
stragglers captured; they were men that gave out in the rear 
guard that could not be saved. Of the enemy there were prob- 
ably 50 killed and 125 wounded. The reports of the times 
that there were 175 of the enemy killed, and a good many more 
wounded, were not probably near the truth. Our artillery 
and the cavalry charge did most of the damage. The first 
day's fight was called the battle of ''Dug Springs"; the second 
day's fight, the battle of ''McCulla's Store." General Lyon 
was disappointed that he could not get a battle that would de- 
cide something. He saw during the two days, first and last, 
perhaps three or four thousand of the enemy, with more behind 



288 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

them, but they were too wise to hazard a battle or let him have 
any advantage. They kept just out of his way, and the mo- 
ment he started back they closed right up to him and took in 
every broken-down team and straggler. They were wise, and 
played the game right. In a letter which Lyon wrote from 
McCulla's Store on August 4th he said : 

''Prudence seems to indicate now the necessity of withdraw- 
ing, if possil^le, from the country, and falling upon either St. 
Louis or Kansas. 

"In fact, I am under the painful necessity of retreating, and 
can at most only hope to make my retreat good. I am in too 
great haste to explain at length more fully. I have given timely 
notice of my danger, and can only in the worst emergencies sub- 
mit to them." 

The foregoing was written in the morning as we were about to 
return, and was directed to Headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri. 

General Rains, in his official report, among other things says : 

"The enemy, reinforced by the regular United States Cavalry, 
renewed the attack on Colonel Craven's command, when the 
conflict became severe and hand-to-hand. I then took the 
remaining portion of the [advance] guard with the view of 
cutting off the attacking party on the right, when, on reaching 
them, the enemy opened upon us with two batteries [guns], 
dispersing the mounted men, a portion of whom became panic- 
stricken and retired in the utmost confusion. I had been led 
to expect reinforcements of infantry and artillery at McCulla's 
Spring, and not finding any, fell back, in accordance with in- 
structions, to the main army. ... I cannot speak too 
highly of the gallantry of the officers and men, particularly that 
portion who acted as infantry." 

The foregoing was written on the morning of the second day, 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 289 

August 3(1. After falling back on the army, it, when confronted 
by Lyon, did not see proper to fight. 

Upon August 3d, and before the fighting of that day. Captain 
Mcintosh, adjutant-general of the commanding officer, General 
McCullough, made a report, a very brief one, to his command- 
ing officer, he says : 

"General: I was sent forward yesterday by your order with 
150 men to ascertain the position of the enemy. . . . When 
about three miles from your camp the command of General 
Rains, as I expected, came down upon us in full flight and in 
the greatest confusion. I drew up my men across the road and 
rallied the greater portion of them and sent them on in regular 
order. General Rains had engaged the enemy unadvisedly, 
and had sent for my small command to reinforce him, which I 
respectfully declined, having no disposition to sacrifice it in such 
company." 

This shows the feuds and contentions that racked the Con- 
federate service, at this time, and did nuich to embarrass its 
efforts. Rains never amounted to much. Mcintosh was partic- 
ular about his "company." He became a General, and was 
killed in less than six months afterwards at the battle of Pea 
Ridge. 

General Price, in his report to the Governor of Missouri (w^io 
was at that time somewhere around in the brush), says: 

"General Rains soon discovered, however, that he was in 
presence of the main body of the enemy, numbering, according 
to his estimate, more than 5000 men, with eight pieces of ar- 
tillery, and supported by a considerable body of cavalry. A 
severe skirmish ensued, which lasted several hours, until the 
enemy opened their batteries, and compelled our troops to re- 



290 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

tire. Ill this engagement the greater portion of General Rains's 
command, and especially that part which acted as infantry, 
behaved with great (jallaniry., as the result demonslrates, for our 
loss was only one killed and five wounded." 

Of such stuff is history niatle ; that is to say, the rebel official 
report says that they had 650 men and held us off with "great 
gallantry" for five hours, and then they fled in confusion with 
the loss of only one man killed. No. They were lots braver 
than that. My observation is that when Confederates behaved 
with great gallantry they did not gig back until more than one 
of them was killed ! 

On August 4th we made, on our return to Springfield, only 
about twelve miles. We were all very tired. It is a good deal 
of a strain, being in line of battle and hunting or expecting an 
enemy all day. Besides this, as we were on the return we had 
to flank through the hills and brush to prevent an ambuscade 
or a surprise, or to insure against a cavalry dash from the sides. 
At evening we camped on a little stream; our company was 
near a deserted house. We encamped in a cabbage-patch from 
which all the young cabbages had been taken by those in front 
of us. Guthrie's mule had been helping boys all day, and 
was permitted to eat up all of the cabbage plants that were 
left. Some poor woman, perhaps, had worked hard to set 
them out in the spring. The mule cleaned up the patch. Our 
pickets were being fired on all night, and we were quite nervous 
lest it would become a battle before morning, but it did not. 
As dawn came the firing ceased. Our cavalry and artillery 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 291 

ate up a large cornfiekl that night, and we got a lot of roasting- 
ears. A small stack of sheaf wheat was loaded into some of 
the empty wagons and hauled along. The two most nervous 
men in the outfit were General Lyon and Corpular Mace; they 
each had everything to lose. McCulla's store was afterwards 
burned by the secesh. 

On August 5th we were up bright and early; we started 
marching about 5 a. m. It was found necessary to reinforce 
the wagons against a possible attack, and men were detailed 
from each company as a wagon guard. I was detailed on such 
guard. I did not like it any. The dust was thick and almost 
intolerable ; it filled the air with a yellow-brown haze. We got 
our eyes, ears and mouths full of it. The horses suffered, and 
the drivers suffered most of all. We of the infantry could march 
at times through the woods on the side, but the drivers had to 
stay with their teams in the road and suffer; at times we had 
to spell them a little, or they would give out. Lyon was in 
the rear, where trouble was apprehended. About noon the 
column had for some cause briefly halted, and I climbed onto 
our company wagon and dove down into a cracker-barrel for 
something to eat. The wagon-cover was off and rolled up on 
the driver's seat. The barrel was nearly empty. "What the 
hell are you doing in there?" I heard shouted at me. I looked 
up; it was Lyon. I said, "Getting something to cat." He 
said, "Get out of there. Where's your company?" I said, 
"On ahead." "Trail arms and double-quick to your company 
— Go!" said he. I started, and in a little while he passed me 



292 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

on his horse, and as th(! connnand was not niovmg I soon caught 
up with my company. I was very glad to be officially relieved 
of guard duty with the wagons, but did not like Lyon's style. 
I thought he was wasting too much tim'e on details. Besides, 
I considered it unjust and unreasonable. There was too much 
of the regular army in it. I told the boys, and it increased the 
general dislike for Lyon; especially was the whole thing un- 
graceful as our time was out and we were serving part on honor 
and part on compulsion. This incident was illustrative of 
Lyon. He w^as always looking around for something wrong, 
or hunting trouble. Huestis called him "the little red-headed 
cuss." 

I caught up with my company; a detachment of regulars 
was in front of us, and one of the Kansas regiments. While 
marching along we passed off to the left, in a valley, a large 
spring-house; several soldiers ran in to fill their canteens. 
Ahead of me rushed a regular army soldier with his polished 
new Springfield rifled musket, and standing it up against the 
side of the log wall he went in to get a drink. The position 
which he chose for his gun was not altogether satisfactory to 
me, and so I moved it of^ about four feet and placed my polished 
gun in its place and went in to fill my canteen. What do you 
suppose that regular army soldier did? Why, he rushed out of 
that spring-house and without saying a word he just picked up 
"Silver Sue" and ran off with her. It was one of the coolest 
pieces of robbery that I ever saw, and being at the spring-house 
made it cooler. He ran on and disappeared in the dust. There 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 293 

was no alternative for me — I had to take the only gun that was 
left. I smothered my indignation and also disappeared in the 
cloud of dust. That evening I traded my silver watch that 
had been on a strike for some time to a regular for two pack- 
ages of ammunition — 80 rounds, that would fit my new gun, 
which I called ''Orphan." "Orphan" was a Springfield rifle 
musket stamped 1861, probably made about March or April 
of that year. I called it "Orphan" because it had been so 
cruelly deserted. We reached Springfield about sundown, and 
camped out on the edge of town. The Dug Springs expedition 
was a failure, and we all felt it ; but it gave us great confidence 
in the regular army officers. With a few exceptions they 
proved to be a superb lot of men. They showed up full of 
vigor, and l)ravery, and devotion to duty. From now on our 
admiration increased. The more w(^ saw of them the more 
we liked them, except perhaps as to Lyon, — we did not like 
him, but had great confidence in him. Most of these regular 
army officers became generals during the war, made fine repu- 
tations, and deserved all they got. 

We expected now to be discharged. I wanted to go home 
and take "Orphan" with me. 

On August 6th we were up bright and early. We were not in 
the place where we were when we went into camp at night; 
about 2 o'clock in the morning we had been quietly waked up 
and had changed our camp l^y coming nearer into town, and 
dravMi up in line, where we slept the balance of the night hugging 
our guns. Our company was near a large house and garden 



294 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

which turned out to be the property of Congressman Phelps, 
of whom I have spoken. 

In the morning about dayhght a large six-mule Government 
wagon drove past us and threw out on the ground a lot of large 
loaves of fresh bread. We got drinking-water at the well at 
Phelps's house. Corpular Mace turned up this morning the best 
dressed man in the company; he had been out all night, and 
came back with a white shirt, blue blouse, genteel cap, and a 
necktie; also a saddle for Guthrie's mule. I went to him and 
told him that I wanted a pair of winter pants with heavy lining. 
He said, "I can getum sho." He turned up with them that 
afternoon. I rather imagined that some secesh family had 
skipped out and left their stuff in charge of their slaves, but I 
did not find out. We changed position twice around Spring- 
field during the day. A few shoes and hats were issued, but I 
needed neither. In the afternoon I took time to fix up my 
new pants. They were of a slate-gray color, and just what I 
wanted. I cut the outside cloth off from the legs as before, 
leaving the lining and two inches at the seams, which I snipped 
across and made into a neat fringe as in my last pair. I did not 
attack the pants in the rear, as the enemy had tried to do with 
us, but left the original cloth as a reinforcement. I shortened 
them about four inches, split them up four inches at the bottom 
and put in shoestrings. I was now ready to march anywhere. 

Couriers were dashing around all day, and we could hear 
drum-beats and bugle-calls, and see soldiers marching at all 
hours. Lyon had been rather doubtful as to what he ought to 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 295 

do with us, and as to whether we^ would stay any longer. The 
term of other companies and regiments was also about to expire 
as ours had expiretl. Matters got into about this shape, that 
if we would stay he could have a battle and if we would not that 
a retreat was necessary. Another point was sprung on us, viz., 
that we had enlisted for three months to serve from the time we 
ivere accepted by the United States. This point was untenable; 
enlistment and muster-in were two different things. The point 
was not sprimg upon us until late in the game. We talked 
it all over, and the Lieutenant talked it all over with us at a 
company meeting. Something had to be done. There was 
almost a mutiny over the food and clothing and the want of 
shelter from the sun. The sun was now our great burden. Our 
company did not have over 70 men for duty. We finally de- 
cided and voted that if we were going to have a fight we would 
stay, and if no fight, no stay. We felt that we would not spoil 
a fight if there was a show for one ; we did not want to take 
the responsibility of a retreat and did not want to march off to 
the sound of booming cannon in our rear. Our officers reported 
to Ivy on that we wanted a fight and would sta5^ Lyon is re- 
ported to have said that he was glad to hear it; that it was 
our duty to stay anyhow, and that the Government did not 
have to discharge a soldier until it got ready. That idea 
leaked out among the men and made them very angry. Ijyon 
liad given our regiment no recognition for patriotism or duty 
and had put it on entirely different grounds; that is, we had 



296 . THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

to stay if he said so. Of course if we marched off he could not 
have the fight, but his idea was that we were just machines 
and had no right to do any thinking. On the other hand, we 
did not dare to go home and have any question pending as to 
our services, or the military propriety of our acts. Hence we 
did not like Lyon, and wanted to have the thing ended and 
over with, and if we were to have a fight we wanted it quick. 
That night we were marched out of town to some timber, as if 
we were to be there in ambuscade. We laid down in line of 
battle, hugging our guns. 

During August 6th we had noticed a perfect panic going on 
around us among the civilians. Thousands of people were 
flocking into Springfield from east, west, and south. It seemed 
that all those with Union sentiments were coming in so as to be 
protected in their flight north. If Lyon had been provided 
with supplies he could have organized and armed several reg- 
iments; but he was powerless; Jie had been abandoned by his 
superiors to his fate. We could not see where we had any show 
even if we did have a fight. The refugees came in all sorts of 
rigs, horses, mules, and oxen. They all told the same story of 
the great number of the enemy and how their cavalry was eating 
up the country. These people were mostly armed with shot- 
guns and rifles, and finally a great caravan of them started for 
Rolla, under a sort of military organization of their own, taking 
with them a lot of .Springfield people; also sick and invalided 
officers and soldiers. The city and camps were of course full 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 297 

of spies, and so Lyon had to keep us in motion and continually 
change our locations. We had full rations of meat, bread and 
coffee, but it was not enough, because other portions of the ra- 
tion were left out. 



CHAPTER 28. 

August 7th. — Change of Camp. — Mrs. Phelps. — Made Corporal. — On 
Picket. — Capture a Spy. — -August 8th. — Boiling Clothes. — Chiggers. — 
Wood-ticks. — Treatment for Insects. — Supply Train. — Three Armies. — 
Wilson Creek. — Shoes and Love Letters. — Plan of Retreat. — Lyon's 
Speech. — The Enemy's Camp-fires. — August 9th. — Fight for Water. — 
Gift of Tobacco. — On Eve of Battle. — Picket-fighting. — Our Regi- 
mental Officers. — The Colonel. — The Lieutenant-Colonel. — The Major. 
— Our First Lieutenant. — Jo Utter. 

On August Seventh we Changed Places three times. We 
came in at dawn to the Phelps place, then marched out to the 
south, then back and out to the west, then back to the Phelps 
place, where we arrived about 5 p. m. Mrs. Phelps came out to 
our company with a basket of tomatoes carried by a colored 
woman. Mrs. Phelps was a very sympathetic w^oman, and we 
all liked her very much. Here Corporal Churubusco was taken 
with something, and she had him removed to a cool place on 
her porch, and the surgeon visited him there. This evening the 
Lieutenant sent for me and said he wanted me to act as corporal, 
in the place of "Churubusco." I was much pleased. In about 
an hour I was detailed with twelve men to go out on picket, with 
another detail under Lieut. Pursell, an officer from Company 
"C." We marched out about two miles south of Springfiekl, 
to a place where two large fields of corn cornered. They were 
probably the northeast and southwest c|uarters of a congressional 
section. They had high rail fences around them and the country 
road ran between the corners. Looking south about a quar- 

(298); 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 299 

tor of a mile the forest began, witli prairie between, on wliicli 
there appeared here and there an occasional low bush. The 
officer posted me at this place with the twelve men and took 
the balance off somewhere else. He told me where there would 
be a company of infantry, far in the rear, to rally on ; and for me 
to hold the post as long and hard as I could, so as to give those 
on the inside time to prepare a repulse. I felt the responsibility 
of the command ; I saw what a great thing it was to be a cor- 
poral ; and the first thing that we did was to build a rail fence 
across the road, with a little gap ^at the end so that we could go 
in and out. Then we made a glacis out of the fence by piling 
slanting rails down the outside of the center so as to make it 
bullet-proof for us. There was a very bright starlight. I sent 
out a man to crawl from bush to bush in front of us to see if he 
could discover anything in the woods beyond. At about mitl- 
night he came back with the information that there were a lot of 
horsemen in the woods. After that in the bright starlight we 
could see shadows come and go indistinctly in the woods. About 
2 o'clock in the morning we saw a line of cavalry deployed in 
front of us, in the dim starlight; it appeared unexpectedly. 
We had not seen it form, nor had we heard it. All at once one 
of the boys had said, ''Is not that a line of horsemen?" We 
strained our eyes and there in front of us was in fact a line of 
horsemen standing perfectly still; about 25 men deployed at 
aliout 100 feet apart. As we looked we saw a man about 50 
feet in front of their line, holding a white horse. We had 
muzzle-loading guns; if we fired th(;y could Ije onto us before 



300 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

we could reload, and we mast rely on the bayonet; we expected 
them to make a dash. If they did, we could get at least half a 
dozen of them. One of my men, being under somewhat of a 
strain, yelled, 'Tome on!" I chugged the man with the butt 
of my musket, and when I looked again the line was gone, and 
nothing was before us but dark empty space. We were then 
afraid of being surrounded, and I sent a man out into the corn- 
field on each side to listen for anyone riding through the corn. 
Things had quieted down and we were waiting, when all at once 
a horseman appeared in front of us. We halted him and took 
him in. He would not talk or answer any questions. He had 
two revolvers; we took them away, and tied his hands behind 
him with my big silk bandana which I had got from the chap- 
lain at Forsyth. Then we tied his feet together with a gun- 
sling and put a man over him with a bayonet, to see that he did 
not run away. The prisoner was soon sleeping like a log. In a 
couple of hours, at dawn, we were relieved and went in to camp. 
The prisoner was marched before a bayonet, and I, being an 
officer of high rank, rode his horse. He would not talk. I was 
a conspicuous military figure then as I marched the prisoner to 
headquarters. An officer came out, looked at the prisoner and 
then at me, told the guard to untie the man and told me to dis- 
mount, then ordered me to take my men to my company quar- 
ters, which I did. I was a good deal puzzled at the reception 
I got at headquarters, and wondered why they did not pat me on 
the back and call me a hero of some kind. I afterwards found 
out that we had captured one of General Lyon's spies. He was 



i 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 301 

dead tired, wanted some sleep, and did not care to give himself 
away. 

August 8th was a hot and dusty day. I have already told 
of the events of the early part of this day. About 9 o'clock we 
changed camp and went out to the edge of Springfield. We 
were not far from a residence where they had the usual largo 
iron soap-kettle standing out in the yard. Several of us boys 
combined and got water from a well and made a fire and boiled 
the usual seven different kinds of insects from our clothes. The 
Dug Springs affair had filled our clothes with a superfluity of 
crawling things; chiggers from the grass and seed-ticks from 
the bushes were the worst. The chiggers started in on us low 
down and about all got burrowed in by the time they had got up 
to our knees. ' But the seed-ticks seemed to want to crawl; 
so they ran up or down, but when they came to the compression 
of the army belt and could not conveniently search further, 
they then began to bore in and begin business ; so did the wood- 
ticks. The latter would bore their heads clear in, and if their 
bodies were broken off, and the heads left in, the place became a 
festering sore. At the time of which I am now speaking I was 
bitten all up and had a girdle of sore spots around my waist, 
and I put in the time, on August 8th, as much as I could, in get- 
ting these injuries healed. The prescribed treatment for chig- 
gers was to take a smoked bacon-rind and resmoke it over a 
smoldering chip fire and rul^ with it the places where the chig- 
gers had bored. Then in an hour or so wash it off with strong 
bar soap. This seemed to neutralize the poison and kill the 



302 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

chigger, and recovery was rapid. But for the ticks, they had 
to be picked out with the sharp point of a knife, and then wet 
chewing-tobacco rubbed on. The tobacco seemed to kill the 
poison, but, if any part of the tick remained in, a sore was the 
consequence, no matter what was done. After tobacco had 
been well applied, then strong soap seemed to clear the spots 
out and hasten recovery. 

During all this time in and around Springfield we got no mail 
from home, and no news of the war reached us except such as 
had an unfortunate tinge. The enemy around us were reported 
to be numbering all the way from fifteen thousand to thirty 
thousand; rumor magnified everything, and a private soldier 
with no means for verifying reports did not know what to be- 
lieve. During the afternoon of August 8th we had roll-call every 
hour, so as to keep the men together. Some of the troops had 
been sent, it was said, to escort in a supply train from Rolla. 
It was passed around that we were to march on the enemy dur- 
ing the night of the 8th, and as evening approached it was sup- 
posed we were to march soon. After sundown we went back to 
town and bivouacked in line of battle in the open air. We laid 
do^\^l in rows with our guns. We expected that as we did not 
go out on the evening of the 8th, we would be awakened in the 
night by a dash of rebel cavalry. We did not expect to get 
through the night without a fight. We had heard that the 
three armies, as they were called, had camped near one another 
on Wilson creek, within ten miles of the city. They were em- 
barrassed the same as we by the dust and heat, for it had not 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 303 

now rainctl for over two weeks, and the sun poured down mer- 
cilessly. 

An army bakery had been put up with a brick oven in Spring- 
field, and on the 8th and 9th the rations issued to us were coffee 
and side-meat (which the boys called "sow belly," but there 
were those of lofty expression who called it "swine bosom"); 
also, big loaves of bread baked in army mess-pans, one of which 
loaves would fill an ordinary wooden water-bucket. The loaf 
was baked hard and had a thick crust on the outside, but the 
loaf was so large that there was a nodule of dough in the center. 
During the night of the 8th the supply train arrived from Rolla, 
escorted by a lot of Union men and home-guards and by a few 
ti'oops sent out from Springfield as the train got near. The 
train was not a large one, and I know of no benefit it brought 
to our regiment except a few shoes, and a lot of love-letters from 
home and the girls, which we got the next day. 

There is a story told by my friend Wiley Britton that Lyon 
and his officers had a meeting on the evening of August 8th. It 
was a council of war to exchange ideas and adopt a plan. It is 
said that on that occasion Lyon spoke as follows : 

"Gentlemen, there is no prospect of our being reinforced at 
this point; our supply of provisions is running short; there is a 
superior force of the enemy in front, and it is reported that 
Hardee is marching with nine thousand men to cut our line of 
communication. It is evident that we must retreat. The 
(juestion arises, what is the best method of doing it? Shall 
we endeavor to retreat without giving the enemy battle before- 
hand and run the risk of having to fight every inch along our 
line of retreat? Or shall we attack him in his position and 



304 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

endeavor to hurt him so that he oanot follow? I am decidedly 
in favor of the latter plan. I jiroposo to march this evening 
with all our available force, leaving only a small guard to pro- 
tect the property which will be left behind, and, marching up 
the Fayetteville road, throw our whole force upon him at once 
and endeavor to rout him before he recovers from his surprise." 

This council of war must have taken place in the afternoon, 
because the rumor was all over the camp that we were to march 
on the evening of the 8th. For some reason the plan was post- 
poned for a day. During the night the sky to the southwest 
was lighted up with vast camp-fires. It looked to us boys 
that escape was impossible and that we must fight, and that 
if not killed we must be inevitably captured before we got to 
Rolla, if we lost. Rolla, as stated, was about 130 miles distant 
through the enemy's country. 

On August 9th there was no bugle-call in the morning. We 
changed our camp to a place on the outskirts of town and got 
our breakfast. We laid around camp and slept and ate, and 
had roll-call about every hour. We were told not to leave 
camp. Every man who missed a roll-call was to be court- 
martialed. All of our men who were barefoot got shoes; I 
would say six or seven. The weather was so hot that we had 
squads constantly carrying drinking-water from a distant well. 
Other soldiers fought with us for possession of the well until a 
guard had to be put over it and water issued by turn to the 
different companies dependent on the well. I forgot to mention 
that on August 6th I had sent my diary home by an exi)ress 
company that was doing business with Rolla when it could. 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 305 

I count it one of my pieces of great good fortune that the book 
ultimately got through and arrived safely at my home in Iowa. 
I had some doubts at the time as to my ever getting home to 
see it. When it did get home the package had been opened; 
fortunately it was of no value to anyone; yet I cannot ex- 
plain why it had been opened. I began to keep another one, 
in a book that a friend had started but had not kept up. Some- 
body in Springfield gave us all the chewing-tobacco we wanted. 
We had but little smoking-tobacco, and hence had got into 
the habit of smoking plug. I got pretty well slept up during 
the 9th. I made up my mind that I wanted to be as fresh and 
rested as circumstances would permit. I got to reflecting that 
if I lost a leg, or a man ran a saber through me, what kind of a fix 
would I then be in? I believe tliat no one wants to go into a 
battle if he has time to think it over. We all had time to ponder 
over it, and the contemplation of the fact did not give us much 
amusement, and some of the boys who were really ill so much 
lamented their condition that they suffered a good deal. One 
of them, a good friend of mine, I advised to go to the hospital 
and not start out with us, for he was too weak; he was bound 
to go, and when we afterwards did start he broke down and 
had to be pulled out into a fence-corner to prevent the artillery 
from running over him. But I am getting ahead of my story. 
For the last two nights there had been picket-fighting. Our 
l)ickets had generally been a mile or more outside of town, and 
stationed so as to command the roads. The secesh sharp- 
shooters — and most of them were sharpshooters — came up occa- 



306 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

sionally and picked off a man; on the other hand, our boys 
would shp out from the picket-posts and unhorse one of the 
enemy, generally some conspicuous Confederate cavalryman. 

Early in the afternoon Corpular Mace had disappeared. 
There was great confusion in Springfield. The rumor was that 
the army of Price and McCullough would be in the city in 
less than twenty-four hours. Most of the people were making 
preparations to leave. It was given out that Fremont had re- 
fused to reinforce us, that Springfield was to be abandoned to 
her fate, and that we were to march to Rolla to defend the 
terminus of the railroad. 

Up to this time we had seen very littlb of our regimental 
officers. We saw no more of them than we saw of regimental 
officers of other regiments. They were in town a great deal. I 
never saw the Colonel but once after July 15th; I saw the 
Lieutenant-Colonel oftener, but he never visited our company; 
the Major visited our company once while we were in the neigh- 
borhood of Springfield. An officer whose reputation depends 
upon the way in which the men of his command will fight ought 
to keep in close touch with them, spend all of his time in looking 
after them and in cheering them up and making them feel that 
he is interested. Our regimental officers did nothing of the 
kind. Of the Colonel, Lieutenant-Colonel and Major I ought 
to speak. I don't like to do it, but must, — they were no good. 
Of the Colonel I may say that his ai^pointment was a piece of 
pure political maneuvering. He was 30 years old, and knew 
nothing of military matters. He had a gifted way of leading 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 307 

a squad of men up to a bar and shouting in a hoarse baritone, 
''Whisky for six." Being a failure as an officer, and finally 
so known to all the men, he did not go back into the service. 
When he was mustered out with us he returned to Dubuque 
and ran for his old office of clerk, and being elected he proceeded 
to turn Copperhead and join the Peace Party and did his best 
to break down in the field Abe Lincoln and the army. Society 
and the Iowa soldiers have long since forgotten what ever be- 
came of him. 

Our Lieutenant-Colonel was a "township lawyer" who knew 
nothing of military matters and showed no aptitude in any 
other direction. He had no heart in the service, had no 
sense of duty, and left the men, as far as he cared, to look after 
themselves. He was older than the Colonel, and enjoyed doing 
nothing as well as he. When mustered out he did not get back 
into the service, but became a " peace-at-any-price " man, and 
then a Copperhead, and, it was so charged, became an organizer 
of the "Knights of the Golden Circle," who were the meanest 
of all rebels. 

Our Major, who was about 55 years of age, went back into the 
army service. The history of the "Iowa Colonels" says that 
he was personally dismissed by President Lincoln, but resigned 
before the dismissal arrived. 

Those were the men who were to lead us into battle ; we had 
sized them all up, and did not like them and had no confidence 
in them. The confidence of our company was in our First 
Lieutenant. Bravely did he retain it. Our Second Lieutenant 



308 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

was a hairy man. He had no ability. He was proud of his 
whiskers. He was put in on account of his relatives. The 
hair grew up to his eyes and down the back of his hands to his 
finger-nails. He ought to have lived in a tree. He stayed out 
when he got out. He never wanted any more war. Four 
months was enough for him. 

No one of our field officers ever amounted to anything ; this is 
saying a good deal, for, but few of the celebrated generals of the 
war had as good a start as our field officers ; while, under them 
and in the ranks, were those who were to be and who became 
Generals, Governors, and Judges. But one thing must be said 
— our company was kept up and sustained by its First Lieu- 
tenant (aged 36), and by the Orderly Sergeant (aged 28). The 
latter was a man fit to be an officer. He was cool, brave, tire- 
less, and kind. He, Jo Utter, afterwards became one of the best 
captains in the service. He rests now in his quiet and honored 
grave at Denver. Officers, to be good officers, ought to have 
decency, gumption, and bravery; of these the commonest is 
bravery. Most people have it. The Indians and the Malays 
have it. It is no distinguishing mark nor any particular credit 
to have it ; but, gumption and decency are scarcer. Our First 
Lieutenant and our Orderly Sergeant had all three qualifica- 
tions. 

It was at this time that General Lyon made his last report to 

GoncM'al Fremont, as follows: 

Springfield, Mo., August 9, 1861. 
General: I have just received your note of the 6th instant, 
by special messenger. 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 309 

I retiretl to this place, as I have before informed you, reacli- 
ing here on the 5th. The enemy followed to within ten miles 
of here. He has taken a strong position, and is recruiting his 
supplies of horses, mules, and provisions by foraging, into the 
surrounding country, his large force of mounted men enabling 
him to do this without much annoyance from me. I find my 
position extremely embarrassing, and am at present unable to 
determine whether I shall be able to maintain my ground or be 
forced to retire. I can resist any attack from the front, but if 
the enemy move to surround me, I must retire. I shall hold 
my ground as long as possible, though I may, without knowing 
how far, endanger the safety of my entire force, with its valuable 
material, being induced by the important considerations involved 
to take this step. The enemy yesterday made a show of force 
about five miles distant, and has doubtless a full purpose of 
making an attack upon me. N. Lyon, 

Brigadier General, Commanding S. W. Expedition, 

Maj. Gen. J. C. Fremont, 

Commanding Department of the West. 



CHAPTER 29. 

August 9th. — Orders to Fall In. — Lyon's Speech. — Getting Scared. — Bill 
Huestis's Theory. — Sweeney's Speech. — Lyon's Style. — Ammunition. — 
The Bread Loaf. — A Day's Rations. — Hofse-thief Hat. — A Picture. — 
The March.— The Morning.— August 10th.— The Battle of Wilson Creek. 
— The Pelican Rangers. 

On August 9th shortly before sundown the bugle was blown 
and we were commanded to ''fall in." There were no tents to 
mark our regimental line. We were sleeping in the open air; 
the position of the companies was marked by the ashes where 
the company camp-kettles and mess-pans were standing. Each 
company of our regiment fell in, making an irregular line which 
was quite long, owing to the distances between the companies. 
After standing in line for some minutes General Lyon was seen 
approaching on his large dapple-gray horse; this was the horse 
he generally used. Lyon, as he rode by the companies, made 
a brief speech to each. We could not hear what he said to the 
companies on each side of us, owing to the distance apart of 
the companies and the low tones of his voice. When he came 
to our company his words were: 

"Men, we are going to have a fight. We will march out in a 
short time. Don't shoot until you get orders. Fire low—don't 
aim higher than their knees; wait until they get close; don't 
get scared; it's no part of a soldier's duty to get scared." 

This is all he said, and is, I believe, a verbatim report, for we 
often talked it over, and compared notes, practically com- 

(310) 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 311 

mittiiig it to ineinoiy. He said the same to the otluu- coin].)anies, 
stopping about a miniito at each. It was a tactless and chilling 
speech; there was nothing in it of dash, vhn, or encouragement. 
It was spoken in a low tone and with a solemn look, and appar- 
ently with a feeling of exhaustion. He was dressed in uniform, 
buttoned up to the chin, as if he were cold, although the weather 
was dry and roasting. We boys considered the speech as a 
very poor effort and entirely wanting in enthusiasm. He had 
better not have made it. The absurdity of the last expression 
struck every one of us, — that it was ''no part of a soldier's duty 
to get scared. '^ It had no sense to it. As Bill Huestis said, 
''How is a man to help being skeered when he is skeered?" 
But the speech represented Lyon. His idea was duty; every 
soldier was to him a mere machine; it was not the "duty" of a 
soldier to think, and hence he was not to get scared until his 
superior officer told him so. Lyon might have spoken a few 
sentences that would have raised his men up to the top notch 
and endeared himself in their memory for all time; but that 
was not Lyon; he did not care to endear himself to anybody- 
This speech of his seemed to me just the kind of speech he 
would make. On the other hand, dear old Irish General 
Sweeney, who did not get killed, made a speech to his cavalry, 
of which I have no notes except that he said (so his boys told) 
among other things, "Stay together, boys, and we'll saber hell 
out of them." Thi.s had enthusiasm to it. 

Among the men Lyon had bitter enemies for his occasional 
severity and want of consideration. The boys thought, as they 



312 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

had agreed to stay with liiiu vohmtarily, that he ought to act 
better. He seemed to go upon the theory that he did not want 
his men to think kindly of him : that what he wanted of them 
was to have them understand that he was not to be fooled with, 
and that as they were in the employ of the Government it was 
his duty to see that the Government got everything out of them 
that could be got for the time being. On the other hand, the 
boys felt that strange confidence which soldiers always feel in 
an officer who they believe understands his business. So that 
speech which General Lyon made produced no particular effect 
one way or another, and had he not been killed would have been 
entirely forgotten. In fact, the boys did hot like Lyon. They 
wanted a fight so that they could go home creditably, to them- 
selves and their sweethearts; they knew just exactly how to 
fire a musket, and they did not intend to be scared, whether it 
was part of their duty or not, if they could help it. 

The preparation for the battle was not very extended. Shortly 
after Lyon had made his speech, ammunition was distrib- 
uted. I did not take any, because I did not now use the same 
kind that my company used; but I had plenty for my own 
use, and was carrying about six pounds of it. "Orphan" was 
in good fix, clean and ready. The boys filled not only their 
cartridge-boxes but also their pockets. Our woolen shirts had 
pockets in the bosom, and most of the boys, besides filling their 
breeches pockets, had some in their shirt pockets; in short, 
we were ''fixed." A wagon also drove by and issued two days' 
rations of beef and pork, which we went immediately to cook- 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 313 

ing. Corpular Mace was sadly missed, so we did the work our- 
selves. His whereabouts were unknown. Just then a large 
covered army wagon drove up with a sergeant, who asked us 
how many ''present for duty," and on being answered by Ser- 
geant Utter, threw rapidly onto the ground an equal number 
of the large turtle-shelled loaves which I have described. They 
bounced around in the dirt and bushes and we each got one. 
My action regarding my loaf was perhaps descriptive of what 
others did. I plugged it like a watermelon and ate my supper 
out of the inside. When I had finished eating I fried up a lot 
of beef and pork (my two days' rations) and crammed it into 
the loaf and poured in all the fat and gravy. My haversack 
had been worn out and abandoned. I took off my gun-sling 
and ran it through the hard lip of the loaf, hurig them over my 
shoulder, filled my canteen, and was ready for the march. The 
hat I wore was a wide-brim, floppy, white-gray hat that I had 
got at the capture of the camp at McCulla's store. It was the 
kind then generally called a ''horse-thief hat." With it and 
with the double bandana that I got of the chaplain at Forsyth, 
which bandana, tied around my neck, fell down on one side 
in cowboy style; and with my "Belle of the Mohawk Vale" 
breeches fringed down the leg-seams from waist to ankle, — 
with these — all these, and that loaf of bread and my bosom 
pockets full of ammunition, — without coat, vest or uniform, — 
a picture was made that I would give a large sum now for a 
photograph to recall. 
About sundown we were all marched into the city of Spring- 



314 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

field ; only about 70 of our company were in line ; the balance 
of our company had Ijroken down and were things of the past. 
We soon found that we were going southwest. The city was 
in frightful disorder. Every available means of transportation 
was being used by the merchants on the city square to load 
up and haul off their goods. AVe had brought nothing along 
with us but fighting material, and had left behind, where we 
had camped, our blankets and cooking utensils. Storekeepers 
brought us out, during our very brief stop of a fc^w minutes, 
tobacco, sugar, and things of that kind. Starting west, it was 
twilight. When w^e got out of town we marched along past 
cornfields. The day had been hot, and as the night began to 
grow cool, life became more endurable, and the marching was 
anything but a funeral procession. The boys gave each other 
elaborate instructions as to the material out of which they wanted 
their coffins made, and how they wanted them decorated. Bill 
Huestis said he wanted his coffin made out of sycamore boards, 
with his last words put on with brass tacks, which were: ''I 
am a-going to be a great big he-angel." (Bill still lives.*) After 
going several miles in the night, the path we were following 
became a dim timber road leading tortuously around among 
the rocks and trees and brush among the hills, and we were 
ordered to keep still and to make no noise. About that time 
a cavalryman passed us from the front, and we noticed that he 
was going slowly, and that his horse's feet had cloths tied 
around them, banded at the fetlock. During the stoppage 

*At Ferndale, Calif. 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 315 

there was a passing to and fro along the lino, and some one said 
that blankets had been tied around the artillery wheels. We 
moved short distances from twenty to a hundred yards at a 
time, and kept halting and closing up, and making very slow 
progress. Finally we were practically involved in the timber 
and among the side-hills of a watercourse. There were some 
little light clouds, but it was light enough to see a short dis- 
tance around us, by starlight ; it was in the dark of the moon. 
Finally word was passed along the line that we were inside the 
enemy's pickets, but were two or three miles from their camps. 
Rumor magnified the number of the enemy to twenty-five 
thousand. We could see the sheen in the sky of vast camp- 
fires beyond the hills, but could not see the lights. We also 
heard at times choruses of braying mules. 

About this time, while we were moving along we passed around 
the brow of a low, rocky hill, and the line stopped at a place 
where our company stood on a broad ledge of rock. It must 
have been about 11 o'clock. I never did know the hour; I 
had traded my watch for ammunition. We all laid down on 
this rock to get rested. The cool, dewy night air made me feel 
chilly in the ''linings" which I was wearing; but the radiating 
heat which the rock during the day had absorbed, was peculiarly 
comfortable. I went to sleep in from five to ten seconds and 
slept deliciously. I had made up my mind that if we were going 
to have a battle I certainly would not get killed, but might 
need all my strength and ability in getting away from the 
enemy's cavalry. The anxiety which novelists describe, and 



316 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

the wakefulness on the eve of battle, are creatures I presume 
of the imagination of the novelists respectively, who were never 
there. I do not know what took place, until, early in the 
morning, just as there was a slight flush of dawn in the east, 
somebody came along and woke us all up, and told us to keep 
still and fall into line. We marched a short distance and 
struck an open piece of ground where we could see all who were 
marching, those in our front and those in our rear. The cavalry, 
artillery and infantry were marching in companies, abreast, and 
in close order. In a short time as it began to grow a little light 
we heard a gun fire. In a short time two or three more. Then 
some regular troops were detailed as skirmishers, and circled 
around to our left. In a short time we found that the enemy 
were alive and active. Our regiment was ordered to go in a 
direction to the left, and to take a position on a low ridge ; the 
enemy in straggling numbers were shooting at us from the 
ridge. The skirmishers fell back. As we marched up the hill, 
it came in my way to step over one of the skirmishers who was 
shot right in front of us. He was a blue-eyed, blonde, fine- 
looking young man, with a light mustache, who writhed around 
upon the ground in agony. While I was walking past, I asked 
him where he was shot, but he seeriied unable to comprehend 
or answer, and perhaps in the noise heard nothing. As we 
started up the ridge a yell broke from our lines that was kept 
up with more or less accent and with slight intermissions for 
six hours. We took a position on the ridge, and the country 
seemed alive on both our right and left. Wilson's creek was 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 317 

ill our front, with an easy descending liilLside and a broad meadow 
before us, in which about five acres of Confederate wagons were 
parked, axle to axle. The hills bore some scattering oaks, and 
an occasional bush, but we could see clearly, because the fires 
had kept the undergrowth eaten out, and the soil was flinty 
and poor. Since that time a large portion of the country has 
been covered with a very dense thicket of small oaks. But 
in those days the few trees were rather large, scrawling, and 
straggling, and everything could be distinctly seen under them 
all around. Across the creek, which was not very far, perhaps 
about a third of a mile, a battery of artillery made a specialty 
of our ranks, opening out thunderously. We all lay down on 
the ground, and for some time the shells, round shot and canis- 
ter were playing closely over our heads. Some few of the canis- 
ter fell into our ranks. They were coarse cast-iron balls, about 
an inch to an inch and a half in diameter. Where they struck 
in the ground the boys hunted for them with their hands. The 
shells were shrapnels, being filled with leaden balls run to- 
gether with sulphur. Our company did not have much to do 
for a while in the way of shooting ; we simply laid down on the 
ridg(! and watched the battery in front of us, or sat up or kneeled 
down. When we saw the puff of the artillery we dodged and 
went down flat, and in the course of fifteen minutes gained so 
much confidence that we felt no hesitation in walking around 
and seeing what we could see, knowing that we could dodge 
the artillery ammunition. This battery was making a specialty 
of us, l)ut we could evade their missiles; we coukl see the shells 



318 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

ill the air when they were coming toward us, and could calcu- 
late their routes. 

In a little while two pieces of artillery were run up on the 
ridge between our company and the company on the right. 
These were Totten's, and were afterwards increased. They 
started- in to silence the enemy's artillery, and a concentration 
of fire began in our neighborhood near the cannon. The duel 
was very interesting, and our boys stayed close to the earth. 
Considerable damage was done to our artillery, but they were 
not silenced. One of the large roan artillery horses was stand- 
ing back of the gun and over the crest of the hill. A shell from 
the battery in front of us struck this horse somehow and tore 
off its left shoulder. Then began the most horrible screams 
and neighing I ever heard. I have since that time seen wounded 
horses, and heard their frantic shrieks, and so have all other 
soldiers, but the voice of this roan horse was the limit; it was 
so absolutely blood-curdling that it had to be put to an end 
immediately. One of the soldiers shot the horse through the 
heart. 

In a little while, in front of us, appeared, advancing in the 
meadow, a body of men that we estimated at about one thou- 
sand. They seemed to be going to attack somebody on our 
left. Our artillery stopped firing over their heads at the enemy's 
battery, and turned upon the meadow ; in a short time the enemy 
were in confusion. 

On the edge of the meadow toward us, and between us, was 
a low rail fence; the enemy rallied under the shelter of it, and. 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 319 

as if by some inspiration or sonio immediate change of orders, 
they l)roke it down in places and started for our artilkny. As 
they got nearer to us, their own artillery ceased to fire, because 
it endangered them. When they got close the firing began 
on both sides. How long it lasted I do not know. It might 
have been an hour; it seemed like a week; it was probably 
twenty minutes. Every man was shooting as fast, on our side, 
as he could load, and yelling as loud as his breath would permit. 
Most were on the ground, some on one knee. The enemy 
stopped advancing. We had paper cartridges, and in loading 
we had to bite off the end, and every man had a big quid of 
paper in his mouth, from which down his chin ran the dissolved 
gunpowder. The other side were yelling, and if any orders 
were given nobody heard them. Every man assumed the re- 
sponsibility of doing as much shooting as he could. 

Finally, the field was so covered with smoke that not much 
could be known as to what was going on. The day was clear 
and hot. As the smoke grew denser, we stood up and kept 
inching forward, as we fired, and probably went forward in 
this way twenty-five yards. We noticed less noise in front of 
us, and only heard the occasional boom of a gun. The wind, 
a very light breeze, was in our favor, blowing very gently over 
us upon the enemy. 

Our firing lulled, and as the smoke cleared away, sitting on 
the fence in front of us, on the edge of the meadow, was a stand- 
ard-bearer, waving a hostile flag. I do not know its description, 
but it was not a Union flag. The firing having ceased, we were 



320 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

ordered back and told to lie down, l)nt the boys would not do 
it until the Rebel artillery opened on us again. Several wanted 
to shoot at the man on the fence, but the officers went along 
the line threatening to kill the first man that raised a musket, 
which was all right, that being the way the game is played. 
In the mean time, however, a little Irish sergeant, who ap- 
peared to stand about five feet high, and sported a large fiery 
mustache, turned a twelve-pounder on the man who w^as wav- 
ing the flag on the fence in such a foolhardy way. The gun 
went off, the Rebel flag pitched up in the air, and the man fell 
to pieces gradually over the fence; and at least a thousand 
men on our side, who saw it, cheered in such loud unison that 
it could have been heard as far as the report of the twelve- 
pounder. 

I am not able to give, in any moderate limits, the history 
of the charges and counter-charges on the slope of that hill, 
but they kept coming. In one of them the Rebel infantry, in 
its charge, w^orn down to a point, with its apex touched the 
twelve-pounder, and one man with his bayonet tried to get the 
Irish sergeant, who, fencing with his non-commissioned officer's 
sword, parried the thrusts of the bayonet. I fired at this "apex" 
at a distance of not over 30 feet. Other secesli were around 
the guns, but none of them got away. The main body were 
started back down the slope; the twelve-pounder was then 
loaded, and assisted their flight. 

At one time we were charged by a large detachment of Louisi- 
ana troops. They made the most stubborn fight of the day. 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 321 



Tlu'v had nice new i-iHcd muskets tVoiu (lie arinory al Hal on 
Rouge, which armory had by the secession leaders been ju- 
diciously filled, before the war, from Northern arsenals. Wc 
were borne back by the charge of the Louisiana regiment, 
slowly in the course of the firing, as much as fifty feet. Squads 
of Rebel cavalry had been seen in our right rear, and while the 
enemy were safe in running, we were not. No man deserted 
the ranks. During that fight Corporal Bill* received a minie 
ball on the crest of the forehead. The ball went over his head, 
tearing the scalp, sinking the skull at the point of impact about 
one-eighth of an inch. He bled with a sickening profusion all 
over his face, neck, and clothing; and as if half-unconscious 
and half-crazed, he wandered down the line, asking for me; he 
was my blanket-mate. He said, "Link, have you got any 
water in your canteen?" I handed him my canteen and sat 
him down by the side of a tree that stood near our line, but he 
got up and wandered around with that canteen, perfectly 
o})livious; going now in one direction and then in another. 
From that depression in the skull, wasted to a skeleton, he, 
an athlete, died shortly after his muster-out, with consumption. 
How could it be? 

We succeeded in repulsing the Louisiana troops, although wc 
were not numerically superior. Our former victory had given 
us gi'eat confidence, and no man broke ranks or ran. As the 
Louisiana troops yielded back we followed th(nn some little 
distance down the slope, and when they were gone we put in 

*William J. Fuller. 



322 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

a})oiit fifteen or twenty minutes gathering uj) fine shot-guns 
and fine rifled nuiskets, and looking over the poor fellows that 
were killed and wounded on the hill in front of us. 

I was afraid I would run out of ammunition, and I helped 
myself to the cartridges in the l)ox of a dead soldier who was 
lalx'led as a "Pelican Ranger." He had the same kind of gun 
that I had, and used the same kind of ammunition. I now 
have two bullets left that I took from that cartridge-box, my 
only mementoes of the battle. The Louisiana boys showed 
lots of grit. 

After a few minutes another attack was made, but it was weak 
and feeble; it must have been a sort of "Butternut Militia" 
gang. One of them behind a tree, perhaps 50 yards in front of 
us, after his associates had retired, rose up and deliberately, 
fired a double-barrel shotgun, both barrels, at us. He injured 
no one that we knew of, but some one dropped him suddenly, 
and Seeger of our company ran forward and got his shotgun, 
kept it, and took it back home to Iowa, a splendid stub-and- 
twist gun. I saw it all done — in fact I fired at the man behnid 
the tree while he was reloading his shotgun, but don't think I 
hit him. 

About this time we heard yelling in the rear, and we saw a 
crowd of cavahy coming on a grand gallop, very disortlerly, 
with their apex pointing steadily at our pieces of artillery. We 
were ordered to face about and step forward to meet them. 
We advanced down the hill toward them about forty yards to 
where our view was better, and rallied in round squads of fifteen 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 323 

or twenty men as we had l^een drilletl to do, to repel a cavalry 
charge. We kept firing, and awaited their approach with fixed 
bayonets. Our firing was very deadly, and the killing of horses 
and riders in the front rank piled the horses and men together 
as they tumbled over one another, from the advancing rear. 
The charge, so far as its force was concerned, was checked be- 
fore it got within fifty yards of us. There WTre 800 of them. 
This cavalry charge was led by a man named Laswell, formerly 
from our State, — Ottumwa, Iowa, — who had gone to Texas ; we 
got him. 

In the mean time, over our heads our artillery took up the 
fight; then the cavalry scattered through the woods, leaving 
the wounded horses and men strewn around. We captured 
several dismounted men by ordering them in under cover of 
a gun. A flag was seen lying on the ground about 150 yards 
in front of us, but no one was ordered or cared to undertake 
to go and bring it in. In a few minutes a solitary horseman 
was seen coming towards us, as if to surrender, and the cry 
therefore rose from us, "Don't shoot!" When within about 
twenty yards of that flag the horseman spurred his horse, and, 
leaning from his saddle, picked the flag from the grass, and off 
he went with it a-flying. The flag bore the "Lone Star" of 
Texas, and we didn't shoot at the horseman because we liked 
his disj^lay of nerve. 

In a few minutes a riderless horse came dashing over the 
ground, and as he passed a bush, a man with a white shirt, 
covered with blood, rose from the groimd, stopped the horse, 



324 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 



.slowl}- unci painfully nioimtfd, and I'odc oH'. The cry passed, 
"Don't shoot!'' and the man escaped. In the mean time 
artillery fire concentrated on us, and the Irish sergeant ^^lled, 
''They are sliooting Sigel's ammunition at us!" Sigel had 
l^een whipped. We resumed our place on the ridge. 

Some few spasmodic efforts were made to dislodge us, all of 
which we repulsed. Finally the hostile artillery in front ceased 
firing, and there came a lull; finally the last charge of the day. 
was made, which we easily repulsed, and the field was ours. 

This last charge was not very much of a charge. It was a 
I'nixed, heterogeneous charg(>. I rem(>niber one very funn}' 
thing that happened in it. We were down on one knee, firing 
and loading as fast as possible, expecting to rise soon and repel 
them, for the enemy had slacked up and almost stopped ad- 
vancing; along came a man in a Union lieutenant's uniform, 
in(|uiring for his regiment, — he was lost; we of course did not 
know where his regiment was; I was near the end of our com- 
pany line; he pulled out a long plug of chewing- tobacco, thin 
and black; I grabbed it and bit off a chew; the man next to 
me wanted a chew; I handed it to him; then it went to the next, 
and so on down the line; the lieutenant followed it for a while 
and then gave up and j)assed on, leaving the remnant of the 
l)lug with the company. Ever}- man that took a chew first 
blew out a big wad of cartridge-pajM'r l)lackened with gun{)()w- 
der, which he had bitten off in loading. 

Word had been passed along the line that Lyon was killed. 
A big regular army cavalry soldier on a magnificent horse 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 325 

rode down alongside of the rear of our company, and along the 
line; he appeared to have been sent for the purpose of bracing 
us up. He shouted and swore in a manner that was attractive 
even on the Imttle-field, and wound up with a great big oath 
and the expression, ''Life ain't long enough for thvui to lick us 
in." After this last repulse the field was ours, and we sat down 
on the ground and began to tell the funny incidents that had 
happened. AVe looked after boys who were hurt, sent details off 
to fill the canteens, and we ate our dinners, saving what we did 
not want of our l)ig crusts and hanging them over our shoulders 
again on oiu' gun-slings. We regretted very much the death 
of General Lyon, but we felt sanguine over our success, and 
thouglit the war was about ended. 

Our drill had given us more than one advantage: in the 
jlrst place, not much of us could l)e seen by an advancing regi- 
ment whih' we lay on the ground ; we were sort of an imknown 
(Quantity, and could only be guessed at. Second, we could 
take a rest and deadly aim and pour in a terrific vollc}^ whih; 
lying on the ground : this would shock the advancing line if it 
indeed did not bring them to a dead hah. It embarrassed 
their alignment and reduced their momentum. Third, wlien 
they l)egan to fire we rose on one knee; the air was soon full 
of smoke, and while they always shot over our heads we could 
see them under the cloud of smoke. The smoke was inclined 
to rise, but if they were advancing they were on foot and could 
not see under the smoke. If they advanced they were soon 
enveloped in their own smoke, their officers could not see their 



326 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

owti men, and the nuii Ix'eaiiic Ix'wildcrcd at their situation 
and l)y their losses in killed and wounded. On the other hand, 
the air was clear behind us and our officers could manage their 
men, and we were not staggered by losses. Fourth, our men 
could not break to the rear and run, because they could be seen; 
while the ranks of the enemy could dissolve and the skulkers 
get to the rear in the smoke })ractically unseen. Hence by rea- 
son of our drill and situation we could not be dislodged 1)}^ any- 
thing but a very strong force. And we were comparatively 
safe in comparison with an attacking column. Above all other 
factors of safety was our drill. 

After a little while, there being nothing visible in front of us, 
an ordei-ly came and told us to move forward, and the artillery 
to go to the rear. The artillery had to be helped off ; we moved 
forward about one hundred feet, then wheeled to th(^ right by 
company, marched some little distance down the line of battle, 
the company all abreast. We supposed that we were going to 
chase the enemy down AVilson's creek, but instead of this an 
order came for us to wheel to the I'ight, and take up a position in 
the rear. We marched to the rear, perhaps a half-mile or more, 
and on a ridge found the artillery and some of the infantry 
drawn up in a new line of battle. We were the last off the field 
and never a shot fired after us. We were fronted about, but 
nobody pursued us, and sev(n-al of the boys who had brought 
packs of cards along sat down in groui)s and i)layed. In the 
meantime our ambulances and other transportation l)egan a 
slow movement toward Springfield. In our new line of battle 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 327 

wc stayed about an hour while the Rebels were mostly re- 
treating down Wilson creek. 

The boys were highly pleased that they had got through with 
the day alive, and there was no idea that the day had gone 
against us. So much was this so, that myself and two corporals 
went off to a near farm-house to buy peaches, the lieutenant 
consenting providing we would bring a lot back to, the l)oys, 
and return if we heard a gun fire. While at the house wc bought 
some buttermilk, and stopped with an old man to tell him the 
story of the fight, when in a little while we saw the dust rising, 
and saw that the whole detachment was going through to Spring- 
field by the main road. This was about two o'clock in the after- 
noon, as near as I can judge. A farmer boy came in shortly 
afterward, and said that everybody had started for Springfield. 

In a little while we got rested, and we started on after the 
army. There was no enemy following; stragglers came along 
occasionally, and we sat down and rested from time to time. 
We were so hoarse from yelling that we could hardly talk. The 
reiterated kick of "U. S. 1861" made my shoulder feel as if I 
had the rheumatism. We did not get into Springfield until 
after sundown. There was absolutely no pursuit, and we felt 
no apprehension of danger. 



CHAPTER 30. 

Author's Review of Battle. — Our Officers. — Official Reports. — Schofield. — 
Sturgis. — Totten. — Lyon Killed Leading First Iowa.— The Pelicans. — 
The Reunion Story. — Confederate Quarrels. — Criticism of Sigel. — Poor 
Confederate Generalshij). — Captain Mason. — Private Norman. — Dis- 
cussion of Lyon. — The Mudsill. 

This is the History of the Battle and of roeollcctions on tlie 
field as told by a private soldi(u-. I can only speak of what I saw. 
AVe had held the field about six hours, and the enemy had fled. 
The wonder with me then was why we did not chase them. 
The l)oys wanted to follow up their victory. ^\c had stayed 
on oiu' second line waiting- for the rebels to stoj) running, to 
turn around, come back, and try us again, but they ditl not. 
AVe saw how Sigel had whipped the lower camp, down below 
us, without any trouble at all, although himself afterwards 
whipped. We said, "Why don't we follow them u])?" AVhen 
we left the battle-field, in front of us and down in the meadow 
and around the burned supply trains were a large number of 
killed Confederates, and none anywhere to be seen with weapons 
in their hands. Our company was intact. Our drill and our 
discipline had counted for everything. Our firing and loading 
on the ground had given us almost an inmiunity from injury. 
The enemy had fired over our heads all day. They had cut 
up the foliage badly. Wagon-loads of shells were wasted on us 
that day. The drill of our regiment was seen in the results. 
Other regiments had one killed to three wounded. Our regi- 

(328) 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. ^^ 329 



iiiciit luul (iiic kill('(l to ('l('\'('ii wcjutulcd. No one ill oui' com- 
pany was killed. If we could sec the caunou that fired we did 
not care for thc^ result, because we could get down onto the groinid 
before the ball could reach us, antl could tell by the direction of 
the puff of smoke whether it was necessary for us to go to the 
trouble of dodging. Our First Lieutenant and our Orderly 
Sergeant on that day were cool and brave. Our Lieutenant 
walked out more than once so far in front to reconnoitre that 
we were afraid he would be picked off, but he was not. Our 
Colonel, instead of being at his post with his regiment, never 
came out of Springfield. He said he was sick. I do not recol- 
lect our regimental officers nor what they did. The Adjutant 
was wounded in the leg near our company, and sat down back 
of our line and dressed it himself. He was all right. I saw 
no Union soldier run on that day except Sigel's. General 
Schofield says: "Early in this engagement the First Iowa Regi- 
ment came into line and relieved the First Kansas, which had 
been thrown into some disorder and compelled to retire." I 
never saw this. We moved around somewhat on the battle- 
field, but not for any consideraljle distances. I know exactly 
what I saw, and I know that mistakes appear in the official 
reports. The report that the First Kansas became panic-stricken 
and ran through us and cut off two of our companies never was 
true, nor ])artly true. General Schofield says in his official 
report : 

"Meanwhile our disordered line of the left was again rallied, 
and pressed the enemy with great vigor and coolness, particu- 



330 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

larly the Fird Iowa Regiment, which fought like veterans. This 
hot encounter lasted perhaps half an hour after General Lyon's 
death, when the enemy fled, and left the field clear as far as we 
could see, and almost total silence reigned for tw(>nty-five or 
thirty minutes." 

Again General Schofield says in the report : 

"Captain Totten's battery in the center, supported by the 
First Iowa and regulars, ivas the main point of attack. The enemy 
could frecjuently be seen within 20 or 30 feet of his guns, and 
the smoke of the opposing lines was often so confounded as to 
seem but one." 

-General Sturgis, who afterward commanded, says in liis re- 
port : 

"Early in the engagement tJie First Iowa came to the support 
of the First Kansas and First Missouri, l^oth of which had stood 
like veteran troops exposed to a galling fire of the eneni}'." 

General Sturgis then speaks of the death of Lyon, and saj^s; : 

"Of this dire calamity I was not informed until perhaps half 
an hour after its occurrence. In the mean time our disordered 
line on the left was again rallied and pressed the enemy with 
great vigor and coolness, particularly the First loiva, which 
fought like veterans. This hot encounter lasted perhaps half an 
hour." 

General Sturgis further says in his official report : 

"Captain Totten's battery in the center, supported by the 
lowas and regulars, was the main point of attack. The enemy 
could fret^uently be seen within 20 feet of Totten's guns, and 
the smoke of the opposing lines was often so confounded as to 
seem but one. Now for the first time during the day our en- 
tire line maintained its position with perfect firmness. Not 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 331 

the slightest disposition to give way was manifested at any 
point. . . . Thus closed an almost uninterrupted con- 
flict of six hours." 

The ofhcial report shows the number of killed and wounded 
on the Union side was 223 killed, 721 wounded, and 60 miss- 
ing, outside of Sigel's Brigade. Sigel's Brigade were practically 
destroyed Ijecause they went to plundering the rebel camp and 
turned up missing when countercharged, but they did no 
fighting. The killed and wounded of the whole Sigel Brigade 
was only 45, while that of the First Iowa Regiment was 150, 
and more. 

Captain Totten says in his rejiort : 

"The enemy, also sadly dispirited, were making a demon- 
stration to cover their retreat from the immediate field of battle. 
At this time the left wing of the lotva regiment was brought up 
to support our brave men still in action, while two pieces of my 
battery were in advance on their right. The last effort was 
short and decisive, the enemy leaving the field and retiring down 
through the valley covered by thick underbrush to the right of 
the center of the field of battle, towards their camp on Wilson 
creek. After this we were left unmolested, and our forces were 
drawn off of the field in good order under Major Sturgis, who 
had assumed conmiand directly after General La^ou's death." 

During the battle I remember of seeing our Lieutenant- 
Colonel only once, and that was when he was riding along back 
of our lines wearing a linen duster, no uniform visible. He wore 
a gaudy uniform except when it was dangerous. This battle 
made about 30 Generals out of the officers engaged, of whom 
7 were Major-Generals. It made no Generals out of any of 



332 THE LYOX CAMPAIGN. 



our re^iiiiciilal Held olTiccr^; ; our Colonel, Lieutenant CdIoucI 
and Major, never (lenerals, have passed long into oblivion, un- 
honored and unsung. ]^ut from the subordinate officers there 
have be(^n several, one of them, Plerron, a Major-General. He 
was Captain of Compan}' "I." In other words, the men fought 
the battle of Wilson Creek without the inspiration of their 
regimental officers; each company was a little ami}-. The 
men knew what they were there for, — knew what ought to l)e 
done and what had to be done and how to do it, and each com- 
pany inspired itself. Col. Andrews, our brigade commander, 
afterwards general, says in his report : 

"The enemy now made another rally, and would imdoubt- 
edly have forced us back had not the First Iowa Regiment, led 
on by General Lyon and Major Schofiekl, arrived at the critical 
moment,'' &c. 

Our regiment Iielieves that General Lyon was killed while 
leading one of the charges we made over the ridge at an ad- 
vancing body of the enemy; he was not in front but on the 
right end of our line. We never heard this disputed until 
a week afterwards, when the First Missouri claimed it and also 
tlie Second Kansas. While T did not see him fall, 1 I'cmeniber 
that during the shock in which (ienei'al T^yon concedcdly was 
killed, the word passed down the line, " f A'on is killed." which 
could hai'dly have Ix'cn the case if, dui'ing the shock, he had 
})een killed with another I'cgiment. Colonel Mitchell of the 
Second Kansas claimed that he and Lyon were shot by the sanu> 
detachment of the eneni}-, and that Lyon was leading the Second 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 333 

Kansas, l)iit Mitch(>ll was woimdcd and taken off the field be- 
fore Lyon was killed, hence his testimony is only hearsa\'. 
Frank J. lleri'on, afterwards Major-({eneral, says: 

"At the battle of AMlson Creek the last thing his [Lyon's] 
(>yes rested on was the First Iowa advancing in response to his 
ordei' of 'charge/ and he fell within our ranks." 

History has tried but caimot vo]) us of this. The ojjicidl re- 
port of the Second Kansas says nothimj about it; its Colonel as 
an aft(4'thought claimed it, and the Major of the First (not 
Second) Kansas says in his official re})ort that when Mitchell 
and Lyon ^^'ere shot they weri' in the rear of the k'irst Kansas, 
which is impossible, (ieneral Schofield does not tell in his 
official rejiort, and Major Sturgis did not know of the death 
until a lialf-hour afterwards. And then> is where we are with 
"official reports." T well remember the geography of the scene 
and the occasion, and have gone over the ground since and have 
studietl it, but when I take the ''official reports" of the move- 
ments of that day I find a jumble that it is impossible to recon- 
cile. And of such is history made. The same difficulty is 
found in the reports of the Confederate officers; theirs are the 
most i)uzzling of all. They found twice as many of our dead 
on the field as we lost. Besides this, we hauled the dead and 
wounded of our regiment to Sjjringfield, a detachment of wagons 
having come down from Springfield, starting at sunrise. About 
a dozen men of our company who were wounded were taken care 
of. Not a man oi our company was left l)ehind on the field. 



334 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

We were not routed and had plenty of time to attend to our 
wounded, and we took good care of every one of them. 

The Confederate returns say they lost of officers and men 
killed only 263. I saw more of them myself killed than that. 
Is it reasonable that an army of over 20,000, that had been en- 
gaged for six hours and had been driven all over the field, would 
quit and let us alone with a loss of a little over one per cent.? 
No, they did not let us alone until they had lost ten times that 
amount. I have but little faith in official reports of battles. 
In the official report of the battle by the Colonel of the "Peli- 
can" regiment (Third Louisiana) I find nothing that I recognize 
except that he had a contest when he moved after Totten's 
battery, and that he "attacked the enemy and put them to 
flight." To this he adds : 

"When the enemy made their final retreat my men were too 
exhausted to make a successful pursuit." 

Yet he says that his regiment began fighting at 6 a. m. and 
lost in killed during the day only nine men. There must be 
some mistake alwut all this. The Pelican regiment were a 
brave lot of fighters, and for half an hour it was a question 
whether we could i)ush them back. I saw a good deal more 
than nine of them killed, and they did not put anybody to 
flight, as far as I could see. 

The Secesh called this battle "Oak Hills." I think that the 
reason that we were not pursued was that about 5000 of them 
had started for Arkansas and could not be halted. About 4000 
more were hors de combat; they were very much "exhaustetl," 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 335 

as the Colonel of the ''Pelicans" said, and besides all this their 
big supply train had been burned up and their mules scattered 
all over the country. How could thej^ pursue us? It was a 
great sight to sec their wagon-train burn : about five acres 
of wagons parked axle to axle. It was all set on fire in a dozen 
places by Totten's shells. I saw it all; I watched every shell, 
and the smoke rose in a heavy black j^all over the landscape 
easterly of it, in which dir(^ction the wind lightly blew. We 
could have pursued them. Six months afterwards, engaged 
in taking to Rolla, from the Pea Ridge battle-field, what there 
was left of that Confederate army, I talked with many of the 
participants of the Wilson Creek battle. They all spoke of their 
great losses, and of the further fact that they were going toward 
Arkansas, when they were stopped, and turned back by mounted 
men who announced that we had returned to Springfield. 
Some of the Seccsh had got 25 miles away in their flight south. 
At a reunion man}" years afterwards an old Confederate 
soldier told a story of the battle in the following way : 

"I was on camp guard that night and had put two roasting- 
ears in the ashes for my breakfast ; when the Yanks came in I 
thought I would eat my breakfast and go ; I pulled out the two 
roasting-ears, but could not eat them they were so hot. I ran 
about ten miles and then stopped to eat my roasting-ears, but 
they were still too hot, so I kept right on down into Arkansaw." 

A good story, of course overdrawn, but with a blue thread of 
truth in it. 

The want of harmony between the Confederate generals helped 
us; McCullough was a regular Confederate general; while 



336 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 



Pi-ico outranked McCuUough, tho former, Price, was oiil}' a 
Missouri-coiiiniissioncd General. The general story then was 
that they envied and disliked each other. In addition to tiiis, 
the attack of Lyon was so unexpected and so fui'ious that it 
could not l)e i"c>])ulse(l, excei)t that it took time and numbers to 
do it. If Lj'on had not been hiu't we should probably have 
followed down AVilson creek and pvu'sued the disorganized Con- 
federate army, because they were burdened with mounted re- 
cruits who were so undisciplined that they did much harm and 
little good to their own cause, and only incited disorder and 
stani])ede. 

CDncerning Sigel I care to say l)ut little. Wv Americans 
never liked him, but the Germans did. He was a little lean 
fellow, with a most impertinent face. He wore spectacles, and 
kept looking around like a weasel. He was said to have had a 
military education and to have been engaged in the German 
revolution and to have fought battles in the old country, and 
that all of his battles were fought while getting away from the 
enemy. The common sentiment and expression was, "Sigel is 
liell on the retreat." At the battle of Wilson Creek he was no 
good; he was timid and inefficient ; one of his own men told 
me that Sigel in getting away from the battle, and a little dis- 
tance therefrom, rode his horse headlong and jumped him over 
a stone fence. The road was too long ; he was cutting across- 
lots. He rode on alone, lie apparently lost entire control of 
himself and then of his men. They drove the rebels from their 
camp and then stopped to plunder it. It was a cavalry camp 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 337 

and the luimbor of horses was very great; each of Sigel's men 
wanted a horse or two, and went after them. They thought the 
battle was over. When the re))els had time tf) form antl fight 
back, there were no troojis in hne of battle to oppose them, so 
they, captured a lot of Sigel's artilleiy and ammimition and 
pointing it at us l)egan firing it over our heads. All this took 
l)lace across the creek from us, l)ut at a distance farther down. 
We* were all very sore at Sig(>l ; the Germans stood l)y him, and 
so it was that he claimed afterwards the right to take Lyon's 
])lace. His brigade had been ruined, with a loss of only 15 
killed, and we were all afraid of his generalship. Nevertheless 
he insisted on the supreme command. 

Everybody supposed until evening that Sigel was killed on 
the battle-field, at least it was thus r(>ported; so, when we drew 
back and formed our new line of battle. Major Sturgis took com- 
mand, and held conmiand until after we reached Springfield. 

The Confederates had shown no tact or generalship. Their 
way of handling their men was l^rave but crude. During the 
Ijattle, as fast as they could get a body of men together they 
went for us, l)ut they never had enough men at one time. I 
am not sure that we were attacked l)y any very unequal num- 
bers at once. They just came and kept coming at us as long as 
tliey could get any bodies of men to hold together. They did 
not all come at once or make any combined attacks. It was a 
process that would have worn us out if it coukl have been kept 
up for a long tini(>, but it was vastly tlemoralizing to them. It 
taxed the l)raveiy of their trooi)s and kept them fighting at a 



338 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

disadvantage. They fought well eno\igh, but couldn't get any- 
where. Their high officers were no good ; they were like ours. 
We boys on the death of Lyon wanted Totten to take com- 
mand. His manner during the fight and his omnipresent way 
of getting around pleased us all. And in addition to that his 
lurid and picturesque language, and his volcanic commands, 
''Forward that caisson, G — d d — n you, sir," ''Cut that shell 
one second and give them hell, G — d dammum," pleased us. 
Totten in his report tells how^ Lyon was twice wounded before 
he was fhially shot and killed. He says : 

"About this time, and just after the enemy had l)een effect- 
ually driven back, as last mentioned, I met General Lyon for 
the last time. He was wounded,, he told me, in the leg, and I 
observed blood trickling from his head. I offered him some 
brandy, of which I had a small supply in my canteen, but he 
declined and rode slowly to the right and front." 

If Totten had only one canteen and had "a small supply" 
left, this must have been about ten o'clock. "Johnny" Dubois, 
who had the other battery, was a dapper young gentleman, 
brave and educated, but Totten was older and was the man we 
liked. 

The only officer we lost killed in the battle was Captain A. L. 
Mason, of Co. "C." He lived in Muscatine. He was a brave 
man and a very capable officer. The first soldier we had kill(>d 
in the battle was Shelly Norman, from ]\Iuscatine, Co, "A." 
He was a young man, a large, blue-eyed blonde, and a great 
favorite. From his photograph the soldiers' monument at 
the State capital, Des Moines, was carved. 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 339 

Concerning General Lyon, there has been much conjecture 
as to \\hether he did the right thing. I think that if he had not 
been killed he would have succeeded beyond his most sanguine 
expectations. He had never been in any battle before that 
amounted to anything. It was new work for him, even if he 
was a regular army officei'. He took dreadful chances. He 
never expected to rout the armies of Price and McCullough. 
He only intended to give them a scare and cause delay until he 
could get back to Rolla. But his raw soldiers fought better 
than he thought they would. He did not know much about 
war, but knew as much as the generals on the other side. It 
takes time and experience to educate general officers; they 
must fight some battles and learn how. 

Lyon was a small man, lean, active and sleepless. He was 
not an old man, although he had wrinkles on the top of his nose. 
He had a look of incredulity; he did not believe things. He 
looked like an eccentric man, like an educated "crank." 
He looked like a man who knew absolutely that he knew. He 
looked like a man who would be willfully insubordinate. His 
hair was sandy-red and curly, — not kinky, but inclined to curl. 
His beard was worn full; it was a thin, struggling, meager, 
reddish, unattractive beard, and he pulled on it and jerked on 
it when he was talking decisively, probably pulling some of it 
out. He looked like a man who was ambitious and invasive; 
he was certainly hard-working and sleepless. There was some- 
thing aljout his eyes that made me think they did not match, but 
I cannot describe how. His eyes seemed to look each sepa- 



840 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

I'atel}'. Ho was not a man that had a poise. I think that men- 
tally he was a good deal of a martinet. H(> ])elieved in every 
man knowing his duty and doing it strietly. He was a man ap- 
l)arently with whom iVicndships would not count. He seemed 
to have no kind woi'ds for anylxxly. He was said to he an un- 
('omj)romising a])()litionist. I think that he was a harsh judge 
and disinclined to overlook any infraction of duti(>s or military 
rules. His inental activity must have been intense. .He be- 
lieved in an iron rule. He was a man capable of grasping great 
occasions and doing great things, and at the same time a wasp 
to those around him. AMien \\v Ix'lieved a thing he believed it 
hard. He had the courage and audacity of genius. I never 
liked him, nor did any of us as far as I ever could see, but we did 
believe that he was a brave and educated officer. He struck us 
all as a man devoted to duty, who thought duty, dreamed duty, 
and had nothing but "duty" on his mhid. In the battle his 
l^eautiful dappled gray horse was also killed. 

The body of General Lyon was brought to Springfield and turned 
over to Mrs. Phelps for burial, and buried near our former camp. 
It was afterwards taken up and carried to Connecticut and buried 
where he was born. His last words, after he was fatally woundi'd. 
were, "Lehman, I'm going uj)." Lehman was his orderly. 

One thing which the l)attle of ^^'ils()n Creek forever settled, 
west of the Mississippi, was that a "mudsill" would fight. And 
another thing was forever settled, that one Southern man could not 
whip five Northern men. The delusion ended with AMlson Creek. 
It was never asserted, west of the Mississippi, afterwards. 



JVLAP OF THE ROUTES 
OF THE FIRST TOWA INFANT RY 

To Dira sraiMas v jvl^culla^s ^obe, 

AN:D To ,-VVILSOX CHEEK:, IVCo., 

0"irLY ^Oj isipi, -toAxrciir^T io,ijipi. 



a R r E K E 



'WEBSTER 



L I TTLE V o 




CHAPTER 31. 

Sunset. — Arri\'t"d in Springfield. — Everything Hurly-burly. — Train sent to 
Rolla. — Paddy Miles's Boy. — Shoulder Painful. — Mace and Lize Turn 
Up. — -Mace's best "holt." — Two Roads to Rolla. — Valley Road Blocked. 
Marched 32 miles August 11th. — Sturgis Takes Command. — Rear Guard. 
— August 20th. — Arrived in St. Louis. — Earthworks. — Camped in 
Arsenal. — August 2]st.^ — -Arsenal. — State Uniforms. — German Hospi- 
tality. — Fremont's Order, — Paid Off. — Provost Marshal. — Published 
Departure. — Reception at Home. — Thanks of Congress. 

When wo got into Springfield sliortly after sunset wo heard 
that at about noon the I'eport of the death of Lyon liad come in, 
and that all the arm}' supplies and stores had been sent toward 
Holla and that every merchant who could move anything had 
moved it. As we came into town, grocery merchants hailed 
us to come in and get what we wanted. One of our men took 
a ham, another found something to put some sugar in; some 
took one thing, some another. One merchant pounded in a 
sugar hogshead on the street and told the boys to take all of 
it if they could. It was so with tobacco and nearly everything 
else. Union men did not want to furnish the rebel army with 
sui>[jlies. Everything was in a hurly-1)urly, and the officers 
were all sweai'ing at each other. Having eaten the remainder 
of my loaf and toasted some l)eef on a ranu'od, I found out that 
all of our ])lankets and camp-kettles had been sent ofi" on the 
wagon-train. We wondered then why, if there were so much 
sugar and such lots of supplies in Springfield, our officers had 
not got them for us, long before this. This made us angry. 

(341) 



342 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

My companions and I then la}' down on the ground, carefully 
folded the blue sky around us, and slept refreshingly all night 
initil early in the morning, in the suJDurbs of Springfield. The 
siui rose tlien about a quartcn- past five and our rear guard did 
not k^ave Springfield initil six o'clock. Up to this time we were 
absolutely unpursued and unmolested. Nor were we alarmed, 
because we thought they were going in one direction while we 
were going in another. All of our wounded boys were got into 
the hospital that night, but finally we got all those of our com- 
pany into wagons and hauled them along. There was where 
"Guthrie and the mule" came in; the mule had been kept 
with the company wagon antl now we had it, and the boys that 
were hiu't took turns riding it, anjong whom was Miles ("Paddy 
Miles's boy"), who had been hit with a canister-shot or a shrap- 
nel-bullet or something on his big brass army-belt buckle. It 
gave him a bellyache that was very painful but ver}^ ludicrous. 
For a wdiile he walked a little, rode in the wagon a little, and 
rode some on Guthrie's nuile; but in three days he was "for 
duty." From the night of the ninth I never had any blanket. 
Nor did I try to get one. They were full of "insects" and I 
felt l^etter without. I had become like a deer. Deers do not 
need blankets. The weather was still hot, and it had not rained. 
I would not have carried a blanket if one had been givtMi me. 
Before we left Springfield we were loaded up with annnunition. 

I shot a gun either right- or left-handed, but my left eye was I 
my best long-distance eye and I had fired my musket all the day 
of the battle left-handed ; the result was that it had kicked me 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 343 

83 that when I got up the next day my left shoulder was black- 
and-hlue and painful. I kept wetting my shoulder all day from 
my canteen. In addition to this, I was stiff all over. It will 
make any man stiff to stay in front of an active Confederate 
battery for five hoiu's. 

Corpular Mace and the company dog "Lize" turned up dur- 
ing the forenoon while marching aw^ay from Springfield. Both 
were fat and hearty. We asked Mace where he had been and 
why he had not helped us to fight the rel)els; he rei)lied, "Every- 
body has got their best holts — okl Mace's best holt is cooking." 

As stated before, there were two roads from Springfield to 
Rolla; one was the "mountain" road and the other was the 
"valley" road. On August 11th, the day after the battle, 
we marched 32 miles, with General Sigel in conmiand; the 
boys did not like it. In the mean time rebel sympathizers on 
horseback had spread the word that we were retreating. The 
"valley" road was the best road for troops to travel on and 
the one over which the military trains and supplies generally 
came. In order to head off and ruin us the people along the 
valley route turned out, felled the trees, tore up the bridges 
and sealed up the road. We took the other one, and conse- 
c[uently the cavalry of the Confederacy were thus prevented 
from heading us off and beating us into Rolla, even if they 
had wanted to. At about the same time that we went into 
camp at the end of the day's march, on August 11th, the Con- 
federate foi'ces marched into the deserted little city of Sj^ring- 
fi(>ld. 



344 THE LYON CAMPAIGX. 

We had now, on our march, fioni fnT (o seven miles of wagons 
in front of us. This niarcli of .'52 miles made the boys all angry. 
It looked like a flight. We got the impression that Sigel was 
scared, and had been scared all the time. The uproar grew 
and spread among the men, and grew and spread among the offi- 
cers. We did not like to hav(> it appear that we were running. 
The men demanded that somebody else should have charge, 
and the officers took it up and reiterated it. Among the upper 
officers backed by the men a great quarrel arose. We marched 
only three miles the second day. The officers finally demanded 
that Sigel step aside and that Sturgis should take command, 
and he did so. We then proceeded to Rolla and arrived by easy 
stages, camping near there on the afternoon of the 17th: we 
went into town on the 19th. Our company acted as rear guard 
on the 14th, but nothing occurred; we were not followed or 
harassed or troubled in any way. As we reached Rolla, Mc- 
Cullough and the southern troops marchf^d back into Arkansas, 
leaving General Price with his Missouri troops at Springfield. 

The First Iowa had left Renick and began marching June 
19th. They reached Rolla and stopj^ed marching on August 
19th a space of two months. Henr\' O'Connor figured up that 
in those two months we marched 620 miles, an average of over 
ten miles a day. In our march from Springfield we })assed 
througli Lebanon and Waynesville. and crossed the Gasconade, 
Roubidoux and the Big and Little Piney rivers. 

We were put into some flat and box cars August 19th, at Rolla, 
in the afternoon. We piled a lot of dirt into the center of each 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 345 

car, hold in place by fence-rails, and built fires on the dirt. We 
boiled coffee and toasted crackers and sang the "Happy Land 
of Canaan." AVe went slowly, inspecting every bridge. AVc 
were delivered near the arsenal in St. Louis toward evening of 
the 20th, in the presence of a vast crowd that yelled and cheered 
as if they could not make noise enough. We were then marched 
into a long room, where a scjuare meal was waiting on some im- 
])rovised tables. We each ate enough for two men. The moon 
was full. We walked aroimd on the limited arsenal-grounds 
in groups in the moonlight, and then curled up on the grass 
and on the walks and anywhere we pleased, without blankets, 
and went to sleep in peace and quiet. It is such experience as 
we had had that makes a man appreciate a home. It is only 
through such experience that homes can be had. 

Coming into St. Louis we noticed earthworks and rifle-pits 
extending for miles, as if a hostile army had I^een expected. 

On August 21st we got up at 4 a. m. AA'e had got into the 
habit of getting up early, and could not sleep in the morning. 
Jo Utter called the roll, and when he came to "Guthrie and the 
mule" the response was, "Guthrie here — nuile on detached 
duty." The mule had gone into the Government corral at 
Rolla. Shortly after daylight and loefore breakfast a great 
accumulation of mail was delivered to us. We got mail by 
the bushel — letters and newspapers. Several letters from my 
father with money in all came at once. So with many others. 
^^'e read our letters and had breakfast by sun-up. Then we 
all went tlown to the Mississippi river and had fun in the water. 



346 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

On return to tlie arsenal there were boxes of uniforms sent us 
by tlie State. The State had been tr3dng to get us clothed, 
))ut could not reach us. These State uniforms were verj'' neat : 
a black hat, light-l)lue trous(>rs, dress-coat buttoning up to tho 
chin, made of hue cadet gray cloth, ^^•ith light-blue Cf)llar and 
cuff trinnnings. I got a uniform which fitted me as if a tailor had 
made it. In my gray coat I looked like a Confederate officer. 
We struck out for the barber-shops and bath-houses, and threw 
away everything we had. When we got our hair cut and got 
shaved and dressed up we all sought hotels and registered. That 
ev(»ning by order we had a final dress-parade at the arsenal and 
nobody would have known the regiment. We then received an 
invitation to march next day through the city and let the people 
S2e us. Next day, after dinner, we took a march up the city. 
We marched solidly in column of platoons. I venture to say that 
nothing in St. Louis ever received a greater ovation. The streets 
wer(> ]:)acked for miles. We were marched, or rather run, for 
several miles on the double-quick. The people were innnensely 
phrased. That was not the way that soldiers generally marched 
through the streets. We just went a-running and the people 
howled and yelled. Besides all this we were l)rowned and tanned 
up like real sure-enough soldiers. This St. Louis reception was a 
great compensation to us. A^"e felt very much gratified. AA'hen 
we were dislianded that evening at the arsenal we were told to go 
where we pleased and do as we pleased and report once a day at 
the arsinial, pending the making out of the payrolls. We were 
told that any man could keep his musket for eight dollars, to 
be charged on the payroll. We then tlislmnded. This was the 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 347 

last ciuic tho First Iowa Infantry was ever together. Wo paid 
off Corpular Maco and bade him ''Good-hy." That night ] 
found that I could not sleep in tlie hotel. It was hot and stuffy, 
and I floundered around until dawn. I found I could not 
sleej) in a house. I was down at the arsenal in the morning 
at daybreak and found a lot of the other boys were feeding the 
same as I. I went to sleej) out in the j^ard under a tree and 
was waked up about 9 o'clock by an ordeily who told mo to 
report to our Lieutenant at the Planter's House. I went there 
and he told me that he wanted me to work on the payrolls at 
five dollars per day. I l)egan right ofT. Here my knowledge 
of what took place is obscured by my being busy, but I can say 
this much, that I never put my head out of the hotel l^ut that — ■ 
having on my First Iowa uniform — the first German who saw 
me took me by the arm to the nearest beer saloon, and after 
introducing me to every one he knew in the room, said: ''You 
fights mit Sigel — you drinks mit me." I hardly dared appear 
on the street, otherwise I would soon be hors de combat. The 
boys all said that they never had such a time in their lives; 
they were not allowed to pay for anything ; as soon as one of 
them gave out he was carefully put into a carriage and de- 
livered at the arsenal. The Germans were fervently and joy- 
fully patriotic; they could not do enough for anyone who had 
''fought mit Sigel." The intense rebel element in St. Louis was 
still alive and active, but it was diiven entirely out of sight by 
the intensity and vigor of the enthusiastic patriotism of the 
Germans. I scarcely dared to put my head out of the door be- 



348 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

cause I could not receive their vociferous hospitality and do 
any work on the payrolls. Most of our boys got, as Bill Huestis 
said, "fullern goats," but they could not help it. Museums, 
shows, restaurants and everything (>ls(> were oi)en to them with- 
out money and without i)rice. The rebels got up a song that 
was circulated soon after, of which the refrain was, 

" I've been to fight mit Sigcl 
And dor G — d d — ^n Dutch." 

The United States will always owe a debt of gratitude to the 
Germans of the Mississippi Valley. Most gallantly did they in 
hours of danger serve their adopted country, and uphold its flag. 

About this time came out i\\v following congratulatory order 
from General Fremont : 

General Order, ) Hdqrs. We.sti':rn Department, 

No. 4. j Saint Louis, Mo., August 25, 1S61. 

I. The official reports of the commanding officers of the forces 
engaged in the battle near Springfield, Mo., having been re- 
ceived, the Major-General commanding announces to the troops 
embraced in his command, with jjride and the highest commen- 
dation, the extraordinary services to their country and flag ren- 
dered by the division of the l)rave and lamented General Ta'ou. 

Forr thus nobly battling for the honor of their flag he now 
publicly desires to express to the officers and soldiers his cordial 
thanks, and commends their conduct as an example to their 
comrades wherever engaged against the enemies of the Union. 

Opposed by overwhelming masses of the enemy in a numerical 
superiority of upwards of 20,000 against 4300, or nearly five 
to one, the successes of our troops were nevertheless sufficiiMitly 
marked to give to their exploits the moral effect of a victory. 

II. The general commanding laments, in sympathy with the 
country, the loss of the indomitable General Nathaniel Lyon. 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 349 

His fame cannot be better eulogized than in these words from 
the official report of his gallant successor, Major Sturgis, U. 8. 
Cavalry: "Thus gallantly fell as true a soklier as ever drew a 
sword ; a man whose honesty of purpose was proverbial ; a 
noble patriot, and one who held his life as nothing where his 
country demanded it of him." Let all emulate his prowess and 
undying devotion to his duty. 

III. The regiments and corps engaged in this battle will ])e 
])ermitted to have "Springfield" emblazoned on their colors, 
as a distinguishing memorial of their services to the nation. 

IV. The names of the officers and soldiers mentioned in the 
official reports as most distinguished for important services and 
marked gallantry will be communicated to the War Dei)art- 
ment iov the consideration of the Government. 

V. This order will be read at the head of every company in 
this department. 

By order of Major-Cleneral Fremont. 

J. C. Kklton, 
Assistant Adjutant Cleneral. 

Finally the payrolls were comi)leted, and our company was 
the first one paid off. When we mustered for pay only two or 
three of the boys kept their muskets, I being one of the number; 
I hung onto "Orphan." But there were eleven of the boys 
who had fine rifles and shotguns which they snuiggled through 
as souvenirs, though the finest one was the one that Se(^ger got, 
heretofore spoken of. When we came to hv paid off at the rate 
of eleven do ars per month, the Government paid us cash for all 
the clothes which we did not get and fifteen cents each for all the 
rations which we did not get by regular issue; the result was 
that I got three twenty-dollar gold-pieces and five or six dollars 
of silver, for what I had done and endured. This sum did not 
look very large, but it was lots better than getting killed and 



350 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

being dead. The l)alancc we got in glory, which was very ac- 
c'i^ptable and in reality A'ery valuable. Then our company was 
put on a river boat and we steamed up the Mississippi. I had 
suffered for want of sleep in St. Louis because I could not sleej) 
in a house, and could not sleej) if I were undressed. Going up 
on the boat I slept much of the time. 

The only event of importance on our trip up the river was the 
quarrel between Huestis and Corporal Churubusco. The latter, 
as has been stated, w^as left ill on the porch of Congressman 
Phelps, in Springfield, and did not get into the big battle, but 
recovered, and reached St. Louis with us. While there he was 
principally engaged in telling to eager listeners the story of the 
battle. He always had a crowd standing around him in wi-apt 
attention, with their tongues hanging out, listening to his lurid 
depiction of the fight, and what "my company" did. Some of 
the boys did not like it; among them Huestis. Besides that, 
the Corporal romanced. Afterwards, when going up home on 
the boat, Huestis followed the Corporal around, and when he 
found the latter filling up passengers and deck-hands with the 
details of the battle Huestis would interrupt and say that the 
speaker was not in the battle. Huestis stayed with the Corpo- 
ral so persistently and shut him up so completely that a quarrel 
ensued, which ended by Huestis saying to the Corporal: "The 
seven biggest liars in the First Iowa are in Co. 'E.' I am one 
of them and you are the other six." Which was a paraphrase 
on one of Lincoln's stories. 

1\\ addition to there being an intensely rebel sentiment, at 
the time, St. Louis was full of rebel spies. They were being ar- 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 351 

rcstctl hourly. Every effort was made by the secesli to foment 
a rising, and to take charg-e of things. A General John Mc- 
Kinstry had been ajjpointed Provost Marshal General, and he 
was kept quite busy. The working of all this was seen in the 
newspaper article that chronicled our departure from the city. 
On August 30th, the daily papers said: ''Several regiments 
from Iowa, Illinois and other States dei)arted yesterday by 
boat." This was all. It will be noticed that the destination 
was not given, nor any circumstances. The going home of 
several regiments, if published, would have brought joy to the 
hearts of the thousands of Cop^rheads and spies who wanted to 
see some evidence that the Union cause was waning and who 
wanted to give the glad news to their rebel friends in the South. 
And the condition of society was such, and the Union hung in 
such a trembling balance, that such news had to be suppressed. 
In addition to this, we were loaded on at night with a picket- 
guard all around, so that no one could get aboard or have a 
chance to ask questions. The war was on; and St. Louis was 
in the enemy's territory. It was on slave soil ; l:)ut an army of 
loj'al and brave Missourians helped save it. 

We were slow in going from St. Louis to our Iowa home ; we 
approached the city about 11 a. m., Saturday, August 31. Can- 
nons began to boom ; 20,000 people were at the wharves to see 
us and welcome us. We sang the "Happy Land of Canaan," 
for the last time as a company, when tlie boat rounded to. There 
stood two new-formed regiments at a present arms; we marched 
up between them until we struck a triumphal arch and a plat- 
form ; the Governor had to welcome us, and the Mayor had to 



352 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 



respond. ^^V had to he (haiiki'd for not marching (^ft' from the 
field to the sound of booming cannon, when a battle was pend- 
ing, as some of the Eastern regiments had done when their time 
had expired. And we had to l)e thanked for showing the sol- 
diers of Iowa to all future generations how things ought to be 
done. And then we were thanked for a lot more things patriotic 
and historic, general and special, and then we were told that we 
each had written his name high on the scroll of fame, whatever 
that was. We did not care much for all this; we saw the same 
old girls in the crowd, and we wanted to hear a few words from 
them. We wanted the freedom of the city and a welcoming 
address horn. them. We wanted to make a few sensible remarks 
ourselves. We were marched into a large temporarily con- 
structed "wigwam" and were given dinner and were waited on 
by our relatives, whom we thus got a chance to see. On the out- 
side was a rushing, roaring, surging sea of humanity that wanted 
to see and talk with the boys. The two regiments protected us, 
and when dinner was over we were taken to carriages and driven 
to our homes or wherever we wanted to go. When I got home I 
heard for the first time that I had been reported killed at the 
battle of Wilson Creek, and my mother had ))een in agony and 
suspense until, ten days after that, my father, in response to 
telegram, had found out differently. We had been missed when 
we went off to buy peaches after the l)attle. On Monday, Sep- 
tember 2, we gave an exhibition drill at the fair-grounds to 
15,000 people. 

Four months after this I was riding from Rolla to Springfield 
and Wilson Creek in an Iowa cavalry regiment that becime 



HISTORY OF THE FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 353 

noted, and I went over the whole scene with as strange feelings 
as a mortal ever felt. 

Why should we not thus go back into the army? The girls 
had been praising us so that we felt it incumbent on us to prove 
that we could do it over again if we wanted — and we did. 

AVithout the inspiration of women there could be no armies, 
no great battles, and but little of what we call "history." 

We all wound up by getting the thanks of everybody, and 
finally of Congress. We were all proud of it ; and the glory of it 
compensated us for all of our exertions and privations, espe- 
cially as the President ordered it read at the head of every regi- 
ment in the United States. Here is the way it came as printed, 
and when so printed 500 or 600 of the First Iowa boys were al- 
ready back again in the service for "three years or during the 
war," — mostly as officers. 

THANKS OF U. S. CONGRESS TO GENERAL LYON'S COMMAND. 

General Orders, 1 Headquarters of the Army, 

No. 111. j Adjutant-General's Office, 

Washington, December 30, 1861. 
The following acts of Congress are published for the informa- 
tion of the Army: 

Joint Resolution expressive of the recognition by Congress of 
the gallant and patriotic services of the late Brigadier-General 
Nathaniel Lyon, and the officers and soldiers under his com- 
mand, at the battle of Springfield, Missouri. 
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, 1. That Congress 
deems it just and proper to enter upon its records a recognition 
of the eminent and patriotic services of the late Brigadier-Gen- 



354 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

eral Nathaniel Ijyon. The country to whose service he devoted 
his hfo will guard and preserve his fame as a part of its own 
glory. 

2. That the thanks of Congress are hereby given to the brave 
officers and soldiers who, under the command of the late General 
Lyon, sustained the honor of the flag, and achieved victory 
against overwhelming numbers at the battle of Springfield, in 
Missouri; and that, in order to commemorate an event so hon- 
orable to the country and to themselves, it is ordered that each 
regiment engaged shall be authorized to bear upon its colors 
the word, "Springfield," embroidered in letters of gold. And 
the President of the United States is hereby requested to cause 
these resolutions to be read at the head of every regiment in 
the Army of the United States. 

Approved December 24, 1861. 

V. The President of the United States directs that the foregoing 
joint resolution he read at the head of every regiment in the Army 
of the United States. 

By command of Major-General McClellan : 

L. Thomas, Adjutant-General. 



Here I bid adieu to the First Iowa Infantry and the reader. 
I am glad my life has been spared, that I am hale and hearty, 
that my diary and memorandums were preserved, and that I 
could write this book. "CORPULAR LINK." 

Finished this Sept. 1, 1907, at Topeka, Kansas. 



THE TROOPS OF MAJOR STURGIS 355 



APPENDIX A. 



[Extract from article in Vol. 39, page 341, Journal Military Service. 
Written by Brigadier-General Henry Clay Wood, IT. S. A.] 

"On the fifth of June, 1861, a detachment of two hundred and 
eight recruits— one hunch-ed and fifty assigned to the Regiment 
of Mounted Riflemen, twenty-eight to Troops B and G, First 
Dragoons, and thirty to Troops G and I, Second Dragoons, all 
which organizations were then stationed, I think, in New Mex- 
ico — arrived at Fort Leavenworth from Carlisle Barracks, Penn- 
sylvania, under the command of Captain Washington L. Elliott, 
Mounted Riflemen, 

"Some fifty of these recruits were attached as artillery to a 
battery of four guns, immediately commanded by Second Lieu- 
tenant John V. Du Bois, Mounted Riflemen. The remaining 
one hundred and fifty-odd were organized into two companies, 
armed as infantry and commanded, infantry and artillery, by 
Captain Elliott. 

"The command left Fort Leavenworth June 12th, and at first 
these recruits with other troops were engaged in dispersing rebel 
organizations at Liberty and Independence, Missouri; later, all 
the forces, assembling at Kansas City, marched through western 
Missouri to join the command of General Nathaniel Lyon, soon 
to move south from Boonville, Missouri. 

"The column was commanded by Major Samuel D. Sturgis, 
First Cavalry, and consisted of Troop C, Second Dragoons; 
Troops B, C, D and I, First Cavalry ; Companies B, C, and D, 



356 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

First Infantry; E, Second Infantry; Captain Elliott's Artillery 
and Infantry Recruits, of the United States Army ; and the First 
and Second Regiments of Kansas volunteers, about 2200 men. 
Having united with General Lyon's column of about 2400 men, 
all the troops called the Army of the West were concentrated in 
the vicinity of Springfieldy Missouri. 

"On July 24th Captain Elliott* was relieved from duty with 
the recruits and assigned to the command of Troop D, First 
Cavalry ; Company B, of these recruits serving as infantry, was 
attached to the battalion of the Second Infantry, and Company 
A of these Mounted Rifle and Dragoon recruits (seventy-seven) 
was attached to the First Infantry battalion; a detachment of 
General Service recruits, then commanded by Captain Sweeney, 
was broken up and assigned to Companies B, C and D, First 
Infantry, in such manner as to equalize the strength of these 
companies." 

* Captain Elliott became Major-General and commander of caA-ahy on 
the Potomac. Afterwards the writer of this book was chosen by him as an 
Aide-de-Camp. 



i 



ROSTER OF FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 357 



APPENDIX B 



I append hereto a roster of the entire regiment. I have tried 
to make this roster as accurate as possible. I have not depended 
upon the Adjutant General's Report of Iowa, but have corrected 
it by all available means, among which are the records of the 
Pension Bureau and the War Department at Washington. The 
report of the Adjutant-General of Iowa was very faulty; it was 
made during the stress of war. I have corrected 298 mistakes 
and omissions in the names of the officers and men. I am not 
yet sure that I have the roll perfect. I have all the names, but 
some of them seem to have been spelled more than one way. 

ROSTER OF FIELD AND STAFF. 



John F. Bates Colonel. 

William H. Merritt Lieutenant-Colonel. 

Asbury B, Porter Major. 

George W. Waldron Adjutant. 

Theodore Guelich Quartermaster. 

William H. White Surgeon. 

Hugo Reichenbach Assistant Surgeon. 

Isaac K. Fuller, Pvt. Co. I. . .Acting Chaplain. 

Charles E. Compton Sergeant-Major. 

William W. Hughes Quartermaster Sergeant. 

Samuel Holmes Hospital Steward. 

Thomas H. Cummings Drum-Major. 

Henry M. Kilmartin F'ife-Major. 



358 



THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 



ROSTER OF CO. "A," FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 



Markoe Ciimraings Captain. 

Benjamin Beach First Lieutenant. 

George A. Satterlee Second Lieutenant. 

Hugh J. Campbell First Sergeant. 

. William C. Fessler Second Sergeant. 

Christian Mellinger Third Sergeant. 

William Jackson ^. First Corporal. 

Henry Narvis Second Corporal. 

Joseph Bilkay Third Corporal. 

Henry Tschillard Fourth Corporal. 

Thos. H. Cummings Musician. 

George W. Connor Musician. 

PRIVATE SOLDIERS. 

Baird, Robert B. Dean, Edwin. 

Barrick, Joseph. Deming, Charles. 

Bartholomew, Chas. Donley, Felix. 

Biles, Joseph. Evans, Henry. 

Bitzer, Galbraith. Ewing, David L. 

Blackeart, Christian. Fengle, Peter. 

Brown, Newton M. Fisher, Francis. 

Cargill, Alexander. Fisher, William. 

Clark, Judson. Fitzgerald, Ezekiel G. 

Compton, Charles E. Fobes, Reuben. 

Crabb, John. Geiger, Francis. 

Creitz, Lewis F. Getter, William. 

Cummins, Alex. S. Gifford, Edmund J. 

Daniels, George. Greenhow, George F. 

Davis, Peter E. Hacker, Adam. 



ROSTER OF FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 



359 



Heaton, Francis M. 
Hine, Charles W. 
Holmes, Ephraim C. 
Holmes, Samuel. 
Hoover, Charles. 
Hyink, Henry. 
Ingersoll, Robert M. 
Jackson, Bennet F. 
Johnson, Samuel. 
Jones, Thomas. 
Kean, Addison. 
Kearn, Christian. 
Keife, Mathias. 
Kenneday, James. 
Kepner, Edward. 
Kilvington, George. 
Kilvington, John. 
Kirkendoll, Edward. 
Lantz, George. 
Lantz, Samuel. 
Lobler, Joseph. 
Long, Newton G. 
Lucas, Jesse. 
Maginnis, Thomas. 
Manly, Samuel. 
Mikesell, Martin L. 
Miller, Alexander. 
Miller, John W. 
Moeller, Werner. 

Total in Company, 100. 



Moritz, Charles. 
Morton, Thomas. 
Norman, Shelly. 
O'Connor, Henry. 
Orr, Samuel T. 
Peckham, George O. 
Perry, Henry. 
Pratt, James G. 
Richardson, Joseph W. 
Richter, Henry. 
Reiley, George B. 
Ritchie, William S. 
Ritz, Christian S. 
Reed, Charles. 
Rupp, William S. 
Seibert, Henry. 
Sergall, John H. 
Shaw, Francis L. 
Stein, Madison B. 
Stockon, Charles. 
Strohm, John. 
Sweeny, David. 
Taylor, William G. 
Upham, Emerson 0. 
White, Hiram A. 
Wiley, John J. 
Woodward, Asa. 
Yazell, John J. 
Zollner, John. 



360 



THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 



ROSTER OF CO. "B," FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 



Bradley Mahana Captain. 

Harvey Graham First Lieutenant. 

Andrew Jackson Rians Second Lieutenant. 

Lewis William Talbott First Sergeant. 

Charles Newhall Lee Second Sergeant. 

Zachariah Shearer Third Sergeant. 

John Henry Gurkee Fourth Sergeant. 

Abraham Lenington McPherson. . .First Corporal. 

James Robertson Second Corporal. 

John Washington Kinscy Third Corporal. 

Phillip Thomas Fourth Corporal. 

Robert Steward Scott Musician. 

Andrew H. Statler Musician. 

PRIVATE SOLDIERS. 

Allen, Mark D. Cleveland, David. 

Austin, Samuel Bruce. Corlett, Josiah Kinley. 

Ballard, Henry Wyman. Craig, Loren Russell. 

Banks, Francis Bradley. Decamp, William Miller. 

Besett, John. Dennis, George Washington. 

Bick, John. Dillon, Loyd Haynes. 

Bick, William. Douglass, Cyrus. 

Boarts, James Andrew. Edgington, James Edward. 

Boots, John Wesley. Ferguson, William. 

Brooks, McHenry. Ford, Ira. 

Brown, Alexander Hamilton. Gettings, James Andrews. 

Burns, Patrick Henry. Goldsmith, Oliver Burdett. 

Butler, William. Goodrell, Wm. H. Harrison. 

Campion, Mitchell. Hampton, Rich. Malcom. 



ROSTER OF FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 



361 



Harbet, Thomas Jefferson. 
Harbert, William Daniel. 
Hills, William Henry, 
Hilton, Chas. Henry. 
Hirene, Timothy. 
Holding, Nelson. 
Hoyt, Thomas. 
Hughes, Wm. Wallace. 
Jackson, Leander Mavill. 
Judson, W^m. H. Harrison. 
Lake, Constance Sweeny. 
Langdon, Burton E verington . 
Lattie, Joseph Franklin. 
Lewis, James Miller. 
Lindsey, Thos. Wilson. 
Linn, Richard; 
Long, Alexander Q. 
Lurwick, Jacob George. 
McGuire, John Thomas. 
Madden, Lemuel. 
Marvin, William Edgar. 
Moffitt, William. 
Morrison, Thomas. 
Muncy, William Redner. 
Murray, James. 
Parrott, Francis Asbury. 
Payne, Thomas. 

Total in Company, 95. 



Pinny, Alvin Wilbur. 
Pumphrey, Horace Boone. 
Reynolds, John Nelson. 
Rodgers, Wm. Lafayette. 
Sailer, Henry William. 
Sale, Timothy Hollister. 
Schell, Joseph Franklin. 
Schell, William John. 
Sedgwick, Samuel Woolford. 
Shockey, George Hoblitzell. 
Simmonds, David Miller. 
Smith, Aaron Miller. 
Smith, Alcines Townsend. 
Smith, George William. 
Sweetman, John Wesley. 
Teeter, John. 

Thompson, Charles Edward. 
Tillottson, Theodore. 
Trask, Eugene Frederick. 
Trimble, James Harrison. 
Truesdell, James Theodor. 
Tyler, William. 
Walker, Alonzo. 
Walters, George Alexander. 
Watson, James. 
Wheeler, John Henry. 
Wolf, Wilson Wesley. 



362 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 



ROSTER OF CO. "C," FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 



• Alexander L. Mason Captain. 

William Pursell. First Lieutenant. 

William F. Davis Second Lieutenant. 

William Grant First Sergeant. 

Charles G. Hayes Second Sergeant. 

Samuel V. Lambert Third Sergeant. 

Alexander Buchanan Fourth Sergeant. 

Walter F. Devereux First Corporal. 

Edmond L. Swem Second Corporal. 

Abram N. Snyder Third Corporal. 

Benjamin S. Stone Fourth Corporal. 

I^eonidas Fowler Musician. 

Enoch 0. Lund}^ Musician. 

PRIVATE SOLDIERS. 

Ake, Samuel. Cassell, Eri F. 

Armstrong, Robert. Chamberlain, Henry C. 

Auge, Marcel. Cochrane, Matthew. 

Baxter, George W. Cogdal, John F. M. 

Beatty, John. Couch, Edward L. 

Bennett, Orlando V. Crooker, Lewis M. 

Bouton, Jonathan B. Crow, John H. 

Branson, William. Crow, Joseph. 

Bridges, Jackson J. Davis, Zechariah. 

Buckingham, Silas. Denton, Jacob. 

Buke, William. Etherton, Moses. 

Burns, Edward C. Fligor, David M. 

Burris, Benjamin. Fobes, Benjamin F. 

Butman, Asa. Fox, Charles S. 



ROSTER OF FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 



363 



Friend, William H. 
Fuller, Henry M. 
Gaskill, David. 
Gates, John C. 
Gertenback, John. 
Gibson, Charles D. 
Graves, Americus. 
Graw, John M. 
Hafemeister, Rudolph. 
Hamilton, Frank L. 
Harriman, John A. 
Hart, William. 
Heckler, George W. 
Hendrickson, Andrew. 
Huxly, E. Ritchards. 
Jenkins, Samuel. 
Jewell, Aaron V. 
Kane, John. 
Karn, Jacob. 
Kelley, Pierce. 
Kent, Jeptha L. 
Lane, Joseph. 
McCoy, Richard H. 
McNatton, Joseph H. 
Madden, Richard R. 
Manly, William. 
Meurer, Gotleib. 
Michener, Charles C. 

Total in Company, 97. 



Mingo, Laurence. 
Morgrige, Henry S. 
Narves, Albert. 
Norton, Jerome. 
Ogilvie, William. 
Oldridge, Jasper D. 
Patton, Eubert. 
Parkin, William. 
Pickering, William. 
Pursell, Thaddeus C. 
Ray, Andrew. 
Ricketts, Jacob H. 
Schenck, Charles G. 
Schultz, Frederick G. 
Shane, Abram A. 
Skinner, William J. 
Stewart, Samuel. 
Stewart, William M. 
Stone, William G. 
Straub, Charles H. 
Tompkins, Silas W. 
Tullis, Smith H. 
Twigg, William M. 
Underwood, James R. 
Van Buren, Edwin P. 
Walters, Cyrus. 
Wright, Lyman. 
Wright, Oscar. 



364 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 



ROSTER OF CO. "D." FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 



Charles Leopold Matthies Captain. 

Mathias Keller ; .Captain. 

Matliias Keller First Lieutenant. 

Joseph Enderle First Lieutenant. 

Theodor Waldschmidt Second Lieutenant. 

Joseph Enderle Second Lieutenant. 

William Alex. Haw First Sergeant. 

George Schaefer Second Sergeant. 

Henry Rose Third Sergeant. 

Theodor Waldschmidt Fourth Sergeant. 

Charles Knapp First Corporal. 

Charles Leopold Second Corporal. 

Frank H. Westerman Third Corporal. 

George Willett Fourth Corporal. 

William Christ Musician. 

PRIVATE SOLDIERS. 

Bates, Lewis. Griinschlag, Philip. 

Becker, Earnest. Henn, John. 

Bickler, Lewis. Henrichs, Anton. 

Bonitz, Edmond. Hille, Frank. 

Bouquet, Nicolas. Hohkamp, Casper. 

Bruokner, Charles. Hohkamp, Henry. 

Buss, William. Hohmbrecher, Gustav. 

Eberhard, Herrmann. . Hoog, Stephen. 

Fahr, Ferdinand. Hoschle, Frederic. 

Feiertag, Laurens. Hupprick, Anton. 

Griese, Christ. Jenger, Joseph. 

Grothe, William. Jockers, Charles. 



ROSTER OF FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 



365 



Kampliofner, Fred. 
Kasiske, Lewis. 
Kaskel, Julius Wm. 
Kettner, Herrmann. 
Klay, John IJlric. 
Klein, Henry. 
Klein, Theobold. 
Klett, -Sebastian. 
Knaup, Theodor. 
Kohller, John. 
Koppenhofer, Jacob. 
Kunimer, Henry Chas. 
Lang, Philip. 
Leonhard, Frederic. 
Limburg, Conrad. 
Limle, Charles Fred. 
Lotz, Adolph. 
Mersch, Caspar. 
Merz, Robert. 
Merz, Samuel. 
Miller, August. 
Mohn, Peter. 
Nagel, Andre. 
Nesselhaus , August . _ 
Ott, Godfred. 
Otto, John C. 
Pieper, John Christ. 
Rager, Christ. 
Rinker, Adolph. 

Total in Company, 94. 



Rommel, Fridolin. 
Romminger, John. 
Rothenberger, John. 
Rotteck, Ernesi;,. 
Ruokert, John. 
Ruff, George. 
Schaeffer, Gregor. 
Schaelling, Henry. 
Scheuermann, Jacob. 
Schlapp, George. 
Scholl, Jacob. 
Scholtz, Robert. 
Schoume, Martin. 
Schramm, Frederic. 
Schrey, Christ. 
Schulz, August. 
Schulz, Charles. 
Sequin, David. 
Soechtig, Fred. Charles. 
Starkman, William. 
Stumppy, Henry. 
Wagner, Charles. 
Wagner, John Conrad. 
Wasmer, John. 
Weber, John. 
Weber, Mickel. 
Wilde, Christ. 
Wolhaf, Gottlieb. 



366 



THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 



ROSTER OF CO. "E," FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 



Gcorgo F. Strcapcr Captain. 

John C. Abercrombie Finst Lieutenant. 

George W. Pierson Second Lieutenant. 

Joseph Utter First Sergeant. 

John Reed Second Sergeant. 

Abram A. Harbach Third Sergeant. 

Spencer Johnson Fourth Sergeant. 

Joseph 0. Shannon First CorporaL 

Robert N. Heisey Second Corporal. 

Wihiani J. Fuller Third Corporal. 

Barton T. Ryan Fourth Corporal. 

Henry M. Kihnartin Musician, Fife. 

William L Tizzard Musician, Drum. 

Charles J. May Company Clerk. 

.PRIVATE SOLDIERS. 

Adams, Martin. Cameron, Charles O. 

Armstrong, Robert R. Campbell, Wm. J. 

Barnard, John. Canfield, Thomas S. 

Beatty, John N. Carter, John. 

Beltzer, John A. Chapman, Samuel M. 

Boeckman, John A. Collins, John. 

Bradley, George. Cousins, Henry C. 

Bradley, Jacob S. Creighton, Hugh L. 

Brandebury, Wm. F. Creighton, Samuel H. . 

Bristow, George W. Crowder, John E. 

Brown, Edward P. Deadrick, Frederick J. 

Bruckner, Joseph. Delaplaine, Joshua W. 

Bush, Loren T. Donsayes, Charles J. 



ROSTER OF FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 



367 



Dreulard, James. 
Dreulard, John S. 
Eads, Oliver P. 
English, James M. 
Espy, John. 
Fairbanks, Augustus J. 
Field, Henry A. 
Galen, Peter. 
Ganz, William. 
Gregory, William. 
Grimes, Jacob M. 
Guthrie, James H. 
Hart, Thomas H. 
Heizer, Samuel B. 
Hills, Henry A. 
Huestis, William P. 
Jaggar, Myron M. 
Johnson, Augustus. 
Johnson, Frank. 
Johnson, Frank B. 
Jordon, William F. 
Kimball, Charles H. 
King, Charles P. 
Lawrence, George. 
Linton, Ira. 
McBeth, Brice. 
McClure, Joseph D. 
McLane, Richard. 
Martin, Stephen. 
Mathews, Lsaac P. 

Total in Company, 99. 



Mathews, John P. 
Matson, Daniel. 
Merrill, Alfred L. 
Miles, Reuben. 
Nesselhouse, Phillip. 
Newland, John E. 
Payne, William R. 
Pollock, Robert M. 
Rhamey, Richard M. 
Riggs, Charles. 
Roberts, Aurelius. 
Robinson, Henry N. 
Rogers, Newton J. 
Schaar, Joseph. 
Schramm, Ernest. 
Seeger, John G. 
Shcdd, James A. 
Shiffert, Reuben. 
Smith, James. 
Strasler, Mark. 
Sty pes, Charles. 
Swaggart, John P. 
Sy ester, William H. 
Ulrich, Albert. 
Vannice, Robert R. 
Wall, Andrew F. 
Ware, Eugene F. 
Wetzel, Jerry K. 
Williams, Clarence. 



368 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 



ROSTER OF CO. "F," FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 



Samuel M. Wise Captain. 

George A. Stone .First Lieutenant. 

Simeon F. Roderick Second Lieutenant. 

Thomas J. Pugh First Sergeant. 

Henry C. Jennings Second Sergeant. 

Daniel C. Strang Third Sergeant. 

James W. Clark Fourth Sergeant. 

George W. Field First Corporal. 

Clement M. Bird Second Corporal. 

Nathaniel T. Smith Third Corporal. 

Jonathan R. Whippo Fourth Corporal. 

William K. Leisenring Musician. 

Resen S. Buffington Musician. 

PRIVATE SOLDIERS. 

Adams, Samuel A. Buckingham, Goodcil, Jr. 

Airey, Joseph P. Clark, James S. 

Bailey, Benjamin F. Conklin, William. 

Balbuch, Conrad. Connor, Ansel B. 

Barker, Charles E. Cook, John P. 

Barr, George W. Cornwell, Alpheus. 

Bartow, Cyrus. Cramer, George. 

Benson, Henry H. Davis, Joseph B. 

Bereman, Tilghman H. De Long, Daniel J. 

Bowman, Francis M. Dewey, William W. 

Boyles, William A. Fegtley, Samuel M. 

Brooks, William S. Fluke, Lyman L. 

Brothers, John. Griffith, James M. 

Brown, Richard T. Hamilton, Robert W. 



ROSTER OF FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 



369 



Hanson, Charles A. 
Hardenbrook, Thos. 
Hartman, Joseph. 
Heacock, AVilhani A. 
Hemenway, Edward. 
Hobart, Frankhn. 
Hobart, WiUiam K. 
Holland, James C. 
Howe, Warrington P. 
Lane, Groves M. 
Lucas, Benjamin W. 
McClm*e, Andrew J. 
McGrew, John P. 
McMillan, Jos. W. 
Mann, Franklin. 
Marsh, Thomas J. 
Martin, Edward P. 
Miller, Thomas B. 
Millspaugh, John R. 
Mitchell, David T. 
Molesworth, Jos. S. 
Moore, James M. 
Morehead, John M. 
Moiilton, Charles 0. 
Mmiger, Jacob M. 
Murphy, William L. 
Murray, Edwin H. 
Parker, Hiram. 

Total in Company, 97. 



Pennock, Jesse D. 
Pollack, Nathaniel W. 
Porter, Watson B. 
Rhodes, Isaac N. 
Ritner, Jacob B. 
Roberts, John W. 
Rock, Francis. 
Roseman, James. 
Ross, William F. 
Satterthwaite, Joshua W. 
Schreiner, Edward L. 
Serviss, Lorenzo. 
Shulz, William. 
Smith, George W. 
Stevens, Andrew B. 
Stubbs, Daniel. 
Stubbs, Jesse. 
Thompson, Smith. 
Tibbetts, James M. 
Van Arsdale, Frank B. 
Van Arsdale, James 0. 
Virgin, Alexander C. 
Virgin, William T. 
Whippo, Jacob V. 
White, James H. 
White, William L. 
Wooderow, Charles W. 
Zollars, Thomas J. 



370 



THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 



ROSTER OF CO. "G." FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 



Augustus Wentz Captain. 

Theodore Guelich First Lieutenant. 

Johannes Ahlcfeldt Second Lieutenant. 

Ernst Claussen First Sergeant. 

Louis Schoen Second Sergeant. 

Frank Dittmann Third Sergeant. 

Charles F. Stiihnier Fourth Sergeant. 

Wilham S. Mackenzie First Corporal. 

Gustav A. Koch Second Corporal. 

Claus Rohwer Third Corporal. 

John F. Doerscher Fourth Corporal 

Theodore Rutenbeck Musician. 

August Anzorge Musician, 

PRIVATE SOLDIERS. 

Altmann, Charles. Einfeldt, Peter, 

Arp, Ernst. Enderle, Anton. 

Asbahr, Hans. Enderle, Joseph. 

Averbeck, Heinrich, Feistkorn, Charles. 

Baasch, Heinrich W. Fellentreter, Andreas. 

Barche, Christian. Fey, Christian. 

Becker, Peter. Fischer, Julius F. 

Benedix, Christian. Fridholdt, Friedrich. 

Brammer, Delter. Giesecke, August, 

Brammer, Hans. Gradert, George. 

Caldwell, James B. Hansen, Johannes. 

Dose, Fritz. Hemmelberg, Heinrich. 

Dresky, William Von. Hess, Fritz. 

Eggers, Johannes. Jurgensen, Sievert. 



ROSTER OF FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 



371 



Karstens, Heinrich. 
Kellemen, Alexander. 
Kiel, William. 
Koch, Ferdinand W. 
Kohlbry, August. 
Kortum, Christian. 
Kreiborn, Fritz. 
Li'ithen, Johann. 
Liithje, Marx. 
Magnus, Emil. 
Massow, Heinrich. 
Matthes, Carl. 
Matthiessen, Jens. 
Meisner, Armilius. 
Moeller, Claus H. 
Murbach, Johann Jacob. 
Nehm, Hans Juergen. 
Neire, August. 
Niemann, Heinrich. 
Nissen, Edward. 
Pahl, Henry. 
Paulsen, Claus F. 
Peters, Johann H. 
Petersen, Christian. 
Petersen, Fritz. 
Petersen, Johann. 
Pfaff, Jacob. 

Total in Company, 95. 



Popp, Johann H. 
Prien, Friedrich Joachim, 
Rahn, Hans. 
Reimers, Hans. 
Rcinhardt, Berhnard. 
Roddewig, Friedrich. 
Rohde, Heinrich. 
Rohlf, August. 
Rosburg, Heinrich. 
Schliinz, Hans. 
Schnepel, Louis. 
Schroepfer, Yost. 
Selken, Henry. 
Sickel, Carl. 
Sievers, Heinrich. 
Sloanaker, Theodore A. 
Spohr, William H. 
Steffen, August. 
Stisser, Franz. 
Stoltenberg, Heinrich. 
Taclewald, Conrad. 
Tank, Juergen. 
Timm, August. 
Voss, Christian. 
Voss, Hans. 
Wegner, Friedrich. 
Wright, Heinrich. 



372 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 

ROSTER OF CO. "H." FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 

Frederick Gottschalk Captain. 

Jacob Duttle First Lieutenant. 

Joseph Geiger Second Lieutenant. 

Julius Leinemann First Sergeant. 

Frederick Dettnier Second Sergeant. 

Charles Schaeffer Third Sergeant. 

Theodore Stimming Fourth Sergeant. 

Henry Meyer First Corporal. 

Frank Rhomberg Second Corporal. 

Frederick Gallee Third Corporal. 

Frederick Stange Fourth Corporal. 

Abraham Herbst Musician. 

Ulrich Wj^ss Musician. 

PRIVATE SOLDIERS. 

Aeby, Benoit. Eichman, Nicolas. 

Amberg, Ernst. Emnett, Joseph. 

Becker, William. Fischer, Louis. 

Bloechlinger, Antony. Frey, John. 

Bohlig, John. Goennel, Louis. 

Bossier, John. Groetzinger, Theodore. 

Brassel, Ulrich. Guillien, Emil. 

Bruderlin, Albert. Haenni, Samuel. 

Budden, Henry. Henke, Charles. 

Buehler, George. Hoeffle, Jacob. 

Buehler, Leonhard. Hoffman, John. 

Conzett, David. Horr, George. 

Deggendorff, Frank. Jaeger, Bernard. 

Doerr, Adam. Jaeggi, Peter. 



ROSTER OF FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 



373 



Jordan, James. 
Jimgk, August. 
Kargel, George. 
Keene, James. 
Krueger, Henry. 
La Nicca, Simon. 
Lampert, John. 
Lauffer, Henry. 
Lichtenhain, Jesse. 
May, Victor. 
Merz, Edward. 
Meyer, Dietrich. 
Meyer, WilHam. 
Mohrmann, Adolph.- 
Moy, Rudolf. 
Nessler, Mathias. 
Otte, Frank. 
Rein, Jacob. 
Roehl, Charles. 
Roepe, John. 
Sauer, Henry. 
Schaus, Mathias. 

Total in Company, 85. 



Schoeni, Andrew. 
Schueter, Conrad. 
Schumacher, Leo. 
Siegrist, David. 
Steimle, John. 
Tuegel, Herrman. 
Valerius, Jacob. 
Weigel, John. 
Weirich, Ezekiel. 
Werb, John. 
Wiedmayer, Charles. 
Wiedner, Gustavus. 
Wiedner, Ernst. 
Wiedner, Julius. 
Wiegner, Michael. 
Wienand, Rudolf. 
Wille, William. 
Winninghoff, Henry. 
Wisner, Salomon. 
Yount, John. 
Zimmerman, John. 
Zimmerman, Martin. 



374 



THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 



ROSTER OF CO. "I," FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 



Frank J. Herron Captain. 

William H. Clark First Lieutenant. 

George W. Waldron Second Lieutenant. 

Samuel F. Osborne First Sergeant. 

Amos Russell Second Sergeant. 

Henry B. Gifford Third Sergeant. 

Jeremiah B. Howard Fourth Sergeant. 

Valconlon J. Williams First Corporal. 

Robert Williams Second Corporal. 

Edwin M. Newcomb Third Corporal. 

Cyrus D. Fletcher Fourth Corporal. 

PRIVATE SOLDIERS. 

Baird, William R. Darrah, Henry C. 

Bale, Edward E. Dickinson, Wm. P. 

Ballou, George H. Duncan, Nathaniel E. 

Barron, Francis. Eason, Theodore G. 

Becket, Edward. Edwards, John T. 

Bell, John. Emily, Anthony. 

Bennett, Orson W. Fishel, Robert. 

Beveridge, James W. Germain, George C. 

Burrowes, Thomas. Germain, Lewis J. 

Carberry, Francis H. Gift, John W. 

Casnet, Joseph. Gould, Charles. 

Clark, Charles N. Greaves, David. 

Collins, James. Green, David B. 

Collins, Stephen P. Gregory, Camma. 

Conger, Hiram M. Gunn, William H. 

Cunningham, Wm. H. Heath, George W. 



ROSTER OF FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 



375 



Hill, Alexander J. 
Houghton, Edward F. 
Johnson, Henry Clay. 
Johnston, John H. 
Kelley, Henry S. 
Kelly, William. 
Lally, Shepherd C. 
Leary, John. 
Lorimier, William H. 
McDonald, Andrew Y. 
McDonough, James. 
McHenry, Joseph H. 
McKinlay, Robert M. 
Martin, John L. 
Mathis, William R. 
Mattis, Silas W. 
Miller. Michael. 
Milton, Edward S. 
Minchrath, Hubbard. 
Mobley, Wihiam H. 
Moreing, Christopher W. 
Moreing, Levi J. 
Morgan, James B. 
Morse, Charles R. 
Munroe, Augustus. 
Northrup, Henry H. 

Total in Company, 94. 



O'Grady, James. 
Parris, Edward K. 
Pierce, George S. 
Poole, Horace. 
Quigley, Elijah B. 
Redmond, Charles P. 
Reed, Charles A. 
Rittenhouse, Adanaram J. 
Smith, Charles M. 
Smith, Samuel. 
Spear, Loyd E. 
Spottswood, Thompson A. 
Stratzel, John. 
Taylor, John W., Jr. 
Thompson, Frye W. 
Tisdale, Edgar. 
Turner, John. 
Wall, Francis M. 
Wall, James J. 
Webb, Lawrence. 
Weigel, Charles J. 
Westlake, George. 
Williams, James. 
Wright, Melville C. 
Zublin, Ralph D. 



376 THE LYON CAMPAIGN. 



ROSTER OF CO. "K," FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 



Thomas Z. Cook Captain. 

John C. Marvin First Lieutenant. 

George W. Stinson Second Lieutenant. 

John H. Stibbs First Sergeant. 

Isaiah Van Metre Second Sergeant. 

Edward Coulter Third Sergeant. 

Benjamin F. Whisler Fourth Sergeant. 

Robert L. Wilson First Corporal. 

John H. Hamon Second Corporal. 

Emanuel B. Carpenter Third Corporal. 

Joseph McClelland Fourth Corporal. 

Waldo B. Pixley Musician. 

Benjamin E. Eberhart Musician. 

PRIVATE SOLDIERS. 

Agler, John. Conley, William J. 

Angell, George H. Cook, Benjamin F. 

Ay Is worth, George W. Coverston, Henry C. 

Bates, Hiram C. Daniels, John E. 

Blood, Alvaro C. Daniels, Joseph B. 

Boyes, Harrison H. Daniels, Samuel. 

Burmister, George C. Davis, Addison. 

Butler, Benjamin E. Deery, John J. 

Calder, Edward. Dewey, Robert P. 

Carpenter, Paul. Eckles, William G. 

Chase, John M. Ervin, Stewart. 

Churchill, Almond J. Esgate, Charles W. 

Clark, John M. Fellows, Edward P. 

Collier, Alfred D. Ferguson, Jason D. 



ROSTER OF FIRST IOWA INFANTRY. 



377 



Fisher, John B. 
Fitzgerald, John H. 
Geddes, Andrew. 
Granger, George. 
Hale, Hiel. 
Hamon, Andrew. 
Hanger, Peter. 
Hayes, James C. 
Hazzlett, Richard W. 
Holingrain, Augustus. 
Hollan, Joseph. 
Hoyt, Perry. 
Hubbart, William D. 
Jacobs, AVilliam B. 
John, George A. 
Johnson, Nathaniel. 
Klump, Franklin. 
Little, James H. 
McGowen, John. 
McKee, Edwin R. 
McManas, Hiram J. 
Mentz, Michael. 
Miller, George C. 
Morhead, James C. 
Murdock, Philip. 
Prescott, Barnet W. 
Rifenstahl, George. 
Rigbey, Allan T. 

Total in Company, 97. 



Robins, William D. 
Robinson, John W. 
Rogers, Robert W. 
Ross, Henry W. 
Russell, Nelson. 
Schoonover, Geo. F. 
Secrest, James M. 
Shafer, William H. 
Sherry, Franklin J. 
Smith, Christopher C. 
Smith, Joseph W. 
Soper, Erastus B. 
Starkweather, John S. 
Steven, Charles. 
Stewart, Edward W. 
Stewart, Robert B. 
Stewart, James 0. 
Stine, John B. 
Stinson, Robert. 
Taylor, Martin T. 
Thompson, Edward. 
Vanarsdel, John N. 
Vanderver, George F. 
Wilson, David H. 
Winterstien, Lewis P. 
Wynn, Cyrus. 
Yager, George H. 
Zeigenfus, Lewis J. P. 



H 88 78 ■^l^ 








_ • '^ Cr 

k%°'. '^^ ..^ ^^^i^- '''^^ ^-^'^ "* 








^^•n^. 





^^■^^^ 








V-'^ 



^^n^ 







^c 



C" ** 



.^ h' 



^0^ 

-1 n 



^.U rS 






^^. ''"^' A^ ... --^^ 



r^ vju^ 


















V .■.^^ -^^^ ,^ ,^^^ ^^ ^^^ 















°o 



'^bv^ 






^^ * « K o , ., 





lJ»- 



o V 







" "^-^^.^ 






'^Qi 











@ 


^^--.^ J Ay 7& 


V 


N. MANCHESTER, 
INDIANA 









i^-n^ 



0' 




